
Glass WBd-533 

Book __iS__SL?v_ 




6—1132 



ESSENTIALS 

OF 

TEACHING READING 



Digitized by the Internet Archive 
in 2011 with funding from 
The Library of Congress 



http://www.archive.org/details/essentialsofteac04sher 



ESSENTIALS 



OF 



TEACHING READING 



E. B. SHERMAN 

Superintendent of Schools, Columbus, Nebraska 

A. A. REED 

Inspector of Accredited Schools, and Associate Professor 
of Secondary Education, University of Nebraska. 




THE UNIVERSITY PUBLISHING COMPANY 

LINCOLN, NEBRASKA 

1908 







Copyright, 1906, 

BY 

THE UNIVERSITY PUBLISHING COMPANY 



All Rights Reserved 

/ 



5Tf)c fLakegtbe $rfg* 

R. R. DONNELLEY & SONS COMPANY 
CHICAGO 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 



Page 



PART I.— THE MECHANICS OF READING 

Chapter i, Time ------ 

Chapter 2, Grouping - - 

Chapter 3, Melody - 
Chapter 4, Force - 
Chapter 5, Quality - 
PART II.— INTERPRETATIVE READING 

Chapter 6, Types and Figures of Speech - 
Chapter 7, Effects - 
PART III.— METHODS 

Chapter 8, Primary Reading 

Chapter 9, Parts of a Recitation and Assignment 

of the Lesson - 

Chapter 10, Classification of Material 
Chapter ii, Obstacles to Good Expression 
Chapter 12, Illustrative Lessons 
Chapter 13, Use of the Dictionary 
Chapter 14, Articulation - 

PART IV.— SELECTIONS FOR PRACTICE 
Chapter 15, Didactic and Moral 
The Importance of the Teacher's Work and 

the Value of Proper Ideals - Theodore Roosevelt 
The Power and Worth of Character 

William Jennings Bryan 
Elegy Written in a Country Church yard 

Thomas Gray 
Chapter 16, Oratorical 
The Gettysburg Address 
Abraham Lincoln 
The Southern Soldier 
Liberty and Union 



3 
13 

19 
34 
40 

5i 
63 

77 

98 
108 
122 
132 
140 
150 



- 169 



179 

Abraham Lincoln 

Charles H. Fowler 

- Henry Grady 

Daniel Webster 



111 



CONTENTS 



Chapter 17, Dramatic 184 

Lochinvar - .- - -Sir Walter Scott 

Barbara Frietchie - John Greenleaf Whittier 

Paul Revere's Ride - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 
Glaucus and the Lion - Edward Bulwer Lytton 

Chapter 18, Narrative and Descriptive 196 

The Lady of Shalott - - Alfred Tennyson 

Ichabod Crane - - Washington Irving 

The Death of Little Nell - Charles Dickens 

How They Brought the Good News from Ghent 

to Aix - Robert Browning 

The Gray Champion - - Nathaniel Hawthorne 

Chapter 19, Humorous 217 

A Curtain Lecture - - - Douglas Jerro Id 

Whitewashing the Fence - - Mark Twain 

Index - - - - • • 221 



PREFACE 



/ TPHE purpose of the authors in submitting 
A this book to the public is twofold. We 
wish, in the first place, to stimulate the interest 
in reading, the subject which is the tool of the 
student in all lines of study. In the second 
place, we wish to satisfy a demand that has 
arisen on account of the great interest in read- 
ing. 

It is evident that there is needed some work 
that will include in a single volume the minimum 
of what a teacher should know in regard to 
teaching reading, as well as illustrative lessons 
and material for practice. 

The plan of the authors has been to include 
the following essentials : 

i. A brief study of some good method of 
teaching reading in the primary classes. 

2. A brief survey of the most important 
elements in the mechanics of reading, including 
emphasis, phrasing or thought grouping, time, 
pitch, volume, and quality, 

3. A rapid drill in pronunciation and enun- 
ciation. 

4. A study of the methods of securing 



vi PREFACE 

thoughtful silent reading and expressive oral 
reading. 

5. A review of the subjects of types and 
effects. 

6. A study of how to select, assign, and 
conduct the lessons of the intermediate and 
advanced classes in reading, including those 
of the seventh and eighth grades. 

7. A reading of many pieces of literature 
of time-proved value. 

We hope that this book will be productive 
of greater knowledge on the part of the teacher, 
and better work on the part of the pupil, in that 
most important of all branches, reading. 

For reading and criticism of manuscript ac- 
knowledgment is due to W. K. Fowler, Ex- 
Superintendent of Public Instruction of Ne- 
braska, Prof. J. W. Searson, of the Nebraska 
State Normal at Peru, President A. O. Thomas 
of the Nebraska State Normal at Kearney, 
President W. H. Clemmons of the Fremont 
Normal, and President J. M. Pile of the Wayne 
Normal. 

The Authors 



PART I 
MECHANICS OF READING 

TIME, GROUPING, MELODY, 
FORCE, QUALITY 



CHAPTER I 
TIME 

The teacher of reading should have a clear idea of the 
relative importance of the mechanics of reading and 
of the thought in reading. There have been two different 
schools of teaching reading. One school devotes the greatest 
attention to the mechanics of reading; the other school works 
t from the thought side. Vital things are taught by each school. 
It is necessary that the pupil get the thought before he can 
express it. However, getting the thought does not insure 
giving it. Many a child knows what a sentence means, who 
merely names the words in it. Tie thought must be held in 
the mind while the reading is done. If the child has gotten 
the thought, and is holding the thought in his mind at the time 
he reads, his expression will be good. So far as the pupil is 
concerned, he need not be compelled to study the mechanics of 
reading. We are satisfied if he gets the thought and gives the 
thought. 

It is necessary, however, for the teacher to have a 
knowledge of the mechanics of reading. If the pupil uses 
poor expression, it is the business of the teacher to recognize the 
cause of the error. It is by a knowledge of the mechanics of 
reading that the teacher locates the trouble. Just so does a 
physician diagnose a case. As it is unnecessary for the patient 
to have the knowledge of the doctor, so it is unnecessary for the 
pupil to have the knowledge of the teacher. If the pupil wishes 
to become a teacher, the case becomes a different one. So the 
knowledge of the functions of Time, Grouping, Melody, Force, 
and Quality belong to the teacher, not to the pupil. To the 

3 



ESSENTIALS OF READING 



teacher it is essential for the proper teaching, and part of the 
great mass of knowledge drawn upon every day of the school year. 
The rate at which a selection, a sentence, a phrase, or 
a word is read is called time. Time is determined by the 
largeness of the thought, or the quality or strength of the 
emotion represented by that selection, sentence, phrase, or 
word. We read Lincoln's Gettysburg Address slowly, for 
each phrase means much. We read Mother Goose's rhymes 
rapidly, for they mean almost nothing at all. If we think what 
we are saying, we repeat the Lord's Prayer and the Twenty- 
third Psalm very slowly, for they mean very much; but the 
unthinking child rattles off his " Now I lay me down to sleep. " 
If one word in a sentence touches the memory, and visions of 
hitherto forgotten things arise, we speak that word slowly. 
We pause while we say " From Maine to California, ' ' for in 
that pause the mind must cross America. 

The curfew tolls the knell of parting day, 
The lowing herd winds slowly o'er the lea. 

We read these lines slowly, because the sentiment in the mind 
of the reader displays itself in the rate of utterance. We think 
of the peaceful, restful part of the day; we see the church ; and 
we hear the sound of the bell. We think of the setting sun and 
the deepening shadows; we watch the cattle as they leisurely 
follow the winding paths. 

Notice how the time in the following becomes slower when 
the larger thought is reached : 

Then your apples all is gether'd, and the ones a feller keeps 

Is poured around the cellar floor in red and yeller heaps ; 

And your cider-makin's over, and your wimmern folks is through 

With their mince and apple butter, and their sous and saussage too. 

I don't know how to tell it — but if such a thing could be 

As the angels wantin' boardin', and they 'd call 'round on me, 

I 'd want to 'commodate 'em, all the whole indurin' flock,-^- 

When the frost is on the punkin, and the fodder 's in the shock I 



TIME 



Rapid utterance also is determined by the thought and 
emotion. We speak the words, " I galloped, Dirck galloped, 
we galloped all three, ' ' rapidly, but not because we wish to imi- 
tate the sound of horses' feet. Nor do we do it to make the 
reader imagine the galloping. That may be the result, but it is 
not the cause. The real cause is, that we appreciate the idea 
of the words, that we feel the emotion. The rapid utterance is 
the result of a kind of automatic suggestion. The connection is 
immediate. The brain does not say, " Galloping means quick 
movement ; therefore, lips, move quickly. ' ' The two things are 
coincident. As the thought of galloping enters the conscious- 
ness and for a time fills it, the lips give out the sound that holds 
sway. 

Notice the somewhat rapid utterance of the following. No 
emotion is involved, the thoughts are not large, the circum- 
stance is commonplace. 

Wal, the very next mornin' Josiah got up with a new idee in his head. 
And he broached it to me at the breakfast table. They have been havin' 
sights of pleasure exertions here to Jonesville lately. Every week a'most 
they would go off on an exertion after pleasure, and Josiah was all up on 
end to go too. 

That man is as well-principled man as I ever see, but if he had his 
head he would be worse than any young man I ever see to foller up 
picnics and 4th of July's and camp-meetin's and all pleasure exertions. 
But I don't encourage him in it. I have said to him time and time 
again: " There is a time for everything, Josiah Allen, and after any- 
body has lost their teeth and every mite of hair on the top of their head, 
it is time for 'em to stop goin' to pleasure exertions.' ' 

But good land, I might just as well talk to the wind! If that man 
should get to be as old as Mr. Methusler and be goin* on a thousand years 
old, he would prick up his ears if he should hear of a exertion. All sum- 
mer long that man has beset me to go to 'em, for he would n't go without 
me. Old Bunker Hill himself hain't any sounder in principle 'an Josiah 
Allen, and I have had to work head-work to make excuses and quell him 
down. But last week they was goin' to have one out on the lake, on a 
island, and that man sot his foot down that he would go. 

Marietta HollEx. 



ESSENTIALS OF READING 



In the following the strength of the emotion results in the 
rapidity of the time. 

Ranald and Mrs. Murray are being chased by wolves. Ranald 
glanced over his shoulder. Down the road, running with silent, awful 
swiftness, he saw the long, low body of the leading wolf flashing through 
the bars of moonlight across the road, and the pack following hard. 

"Let her go, Mrs. Murray, ' ' cried Ranald. "Whip her and never 
stop." But there was no need; the pony was wild with fear and was doing 
her best running. 

Ranald was meantime holding in the colt, and the pony drew away 
rapidly. But as rapidly the wolves were closing in behind him. They 
were not more than "a hundred yards away, and gaining every second. 
Ranald, remembering the suspicious nature of the brutes, loosened his 
coat and dropped it in the road; with a chorus of yelps they paused, 
then threw themselves upon it, and in another minute took up the 
chase. 

But now the clearing was in sight. The pony was far ahead, and 
Ranald shook out his colt with a yell. He was none too soon, for the 
pursuing pack, now uttering short, shrill yelps, were now at the colt's 
heels. Lizette, fleet as the wind, could not shake them off. Closer and 
ever closer they came, snapping and snarling. Ranald could see them 
over his shoulder. A hundred yards more, and he would reach his own 
back lane. The leader of the pack seemed to feel that his chances 
were slipping swiftly away. With a spurt he gained upon Lizette, 
reached the saddle-girths, gathered himself in two short jumps, and 
sprang for the colt's throat. Instinctively Ranald stood up in his 
stirrups, and kicking his foot free, caught the wolf under the jaw. 
The brute fell with a howl under the colt's feet, and the next moment 
they were in the lane and safe. Ralph Connor. 

Dickens' " Death of Little Nell ' ' is one of those pieces of lit- 
erature in which the quality of the emotion, and the largeness of 
the thought, unite to produce slow time. 

She was dead. No sleep so beautiful and calm, so free from trace of 
pain, so fair to look upon. She seemed a creature fresh from the hand of 
God, and waiting for the breath of life: not one who had lived and 
suffered death. 

Her couch was dressed here and there with winter berries and green 
leaves, gathered in a spot she had been used to favor. " When I die, put 



TIME 



near me something that has loved the light and had the sky above it 
always." Those were her words. 

She was dead. Dear, gentle, patient, noble Nell was dead. Her little 
bird — a poor, slight thing ,the pressure of a finger would have crushed — 
was stirring nimbly in its cage; and the strong heart of its child-mistress 
was mute and motionless forever. 

Where were the traces of her early cares ? All gone. Sorrow was dead 
within her; but peace and perfect happiness were born, — imaged in her 
tranquil beauty and profound repose. 

And still her former self lay there, unaltered in this change. Yes. The 
old fireside had smiled upon that same sweet face; it had passed like a 
dream through haunts of misery and care; at the door of the poor school 
master on the summer evening, before the furnace-fire upon the cold, wet 
night, at the still bedside of the dying boy, there had been the same 
mild, lovely look. So shall we know the angels in their majesty, 
after death. 

An example of slow time on account of the greatness of the 
thought is found in John Adams' speech at the adoption of the 
Declaration of Independence. 

But whatever may be our fate, be assured, be assured, that this declara- 
tion will stand. It may cost treasure, and it may cost blood; but it will 
stand, and it will richly compensate for both. Through the thick gloom 
of the present, I see the brightness of the future, as of the sun in heaven. 
We shall make this a glorious, an immortal day. When we are in our 
graves, our children will honor it. They will celebrate it with thanksgiving, 
with festivity, with bonfires, and illuminations. On its annual return they 
will shed tears, copious, gushing tears, not of subjection and slavery, not 
of agony and distress, but of exultation, of gratitude, and of joy. 

Sir, before God, I believe the hour is come. My judgment approves 
this measure, and my whole heart is in it. All that I have, and all that I 
am, and all that I hope to be, in this life, I am now ready here to stake 
upon it; and I leave off as I began, that live or die, survive or perish, I am 
for the declaration. It is my living sentiment, and by the blessing of God 
it shall be my dying sentiment; independence now; and INDEPEND- 
ENCE FOREVER. 

Another example of the same time for the same cause. 
Portia. The quality of mercy is not strained ; 
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven 



8 ESSENTIALS OF READING 

Upon the place beneath : it is twice bless'd; 
It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes: 
'Tis mightiest in the mightiest : it becomes 
The throned monarch better than his crown; 
His scepter shows the force of temporal power, 
The attribute to awe and majesty, 
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings; 
But mercy is above this sceptred sway; 
It is enthroned in the hearts of kings, 
It is an attribute to God himself; 
And earthly power doth then show likest God's 
When mercy seasons justice. 

The teacher should give few mechanical directions. 

An injunction, " Read more slowly, my boy, " is a truly mechan- 
ical device. It is the same operation as that of the engineer 
when he partially closes the throttle. It changes in no way 
the child's conception of the thought. The slower reading 
that results is not one whit better than the rapid reading 
of the first attempt, because it represents no better con- 
ception of the thought. 

The teacher should work through the thought and emo- 
tion. The teacher of reading knows the lesson that he assigns. 
He knows how much is meant by the author. If his pupils read 
too rapidly, he knows that they are not appreciating the magni- 
tude of the ideas. So he tries to bring to their realization so much 
of the author's thought as the children are able to grasp. He does 
this by question, or by explanation, or by paraphrase. He uses 
the children's experience and their imagination. He works from 
the thought and the emotion. He regards time as a test, not 
as an end. 

Reading that is too slow. This trouble may arise from one 
of three causes. The child may be slow by nature. The teacher 
should then not require what is beyond the pupil's power to do. 
Reading that is right, judged by his temperament, should be 



TIME 



accepted. Sometimes children read too slowly because of 
unfamiliarity with the words. The treatment then is deter- 
mined by the cause of the unfamiliarity. 

It may be the result of having a reader that is too difficult for 
the pupils. There may be too many new words per page. In 
such a case the reader should be changed. The lack of famil- 
iarity with the words may result from the nationality of the 
pupil. If it is impossible, or not best, to transfer him to a more 
elementary class, then the teacher must possess her soul 
with patience until the pupil learns our language. In a 
few years he will be up with his fellows. The child learns 
languages so easily that a foreign born child will finish 
with the American children and will learn our language in 
addition. 

In the third place, this unfamiliarity with the words may 
be the result of careless assignment of the lesson. (See As- 
signment of the Lesson.) If the reading is too slow on ac- 
count of word trouble, let the teacher, first of all, see to it 
that she has performed her work properly. 

As a summary of what has been said in this chapter, and as 
an illustration of the handling of a selection to bring out the 
largeness of the thought, let us read Julia Ward Howe's won- 
derful poem, "The Battle Hymn of the Republic." This poem is 
usually sung in our schools to the tune of "John Brown's Body 
Lies Mouldering in the Grave.' ' We make the rhythm the 
conspicuous thing. We sing it, " Humpty, dumpty, dumpty, 
dumpty; humpty, dumpty, dumpty, dum; " etc. Let us see 
what it really means. 

Julia Ward Howe felt her heart throb with sympathy for a 
million slaves. She was oppressed with the thought of the great 
sin that her nation had committed. She saw the gathering of 
myriads of fighting men to overwhelm the defenders of slavery. 
Thinking of all this she wrote : — 



io ESSENTIALS OF READING 

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord; 
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored; 
He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword: 
His truth is marching on. 

In the darkness of the night she has gone up to the house roof 
in her home in the nation's capital. She has seen the camp- 
fires of the soldiers in those ninety forts that encircled and 
defended Washington. She thinks of the terrible power soon 
to be loosed from those thousands of muskets, those hundreds 
of cannon. As she thinks of this, it comes to her that God, 
himself, is moving in the midst of this army, that He has 
pronounced His will, and that His omnipotent power is on 
the side of the North. 

I have seen Him in the watch-fires of a hundred circling camps; 
They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps; 
I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps: 
His day is marching on. 

In our imagination we also see the columns of blue clad, stal- 
wart men marching down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, 
filling it from curb to curb, stretching away in the distance as far 
as the eye can reach. We also feel the irresistible power of 
the cause. Certainly God is on our side, and He is marching 
with His children. 

I have read a fiery gospel writ in burnished rows of steel: 
" As ye deal with My contemners, so with you My grace shall deal; 
Let the Hero, born of woman, crush the serpent with His heel, 
Since God is marching on. ' ' 

As we think of this host of soldiers, of this just cause, of the 
aroused wrath of God, there comes a determination that this re- 
bellion shall be quelled, that this blot shall be removed, that 
men shall be tested by fire and by blood. All this shall be 
done, it cannot be prevented, for God has willed it. 



TIME u 



He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat; 
He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment seat; 
O, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! be jubilant, my feet! 
Our God is marching on. 

In an upper room in a lodging-house in London, a group of 
war correspondents were celebrating the approach of war in 
the Soudan. Led by the veteran, the Nilghai, they sing the 
American song, "The Battle Hymn of the Republic.' , They 
sing the first stanza, and the second, and the third, and the 
fourth. Then they pause. Cassavetti, the Frenchman, proud 
of his knowledge, starts the last verse, — but grizzled old Tor- 
penhow, the veteran of a dozen campaigns, holds up his hand 
and says, " Hold on. We've nothing to do with that. That 
belongs to another man." What is this verse, so high in 
sentiment, so lofty in tone, that these men would not or could 
not sing it? This is it. 

In the beauty of the lilies, Christ was born across the sea, 
With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me; 
As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free, 
While God is marching on. 

OUTLINE OF CHAPTER I 

TIME 
Mechanics of reading. 

Relative importance of the mechanics and the thought. 
The two schools of teaching reading. 

Necessity of teachers understanding the mechanics of reading. 
Definition of time. 

What determines time. 
Function of time. 
What causes rapid time. 
Common place thought. 
Excitement. 
What causes slow time. 
Emotion. 
Largeness of thought. 



12 ESSENTIALS OF READING 

Mechanical directions. 
Through what to work. 
Cause of too rapid reading. 
Causes of too slow reading. 

Nature of reader. 

Difficult text 

Poor assignment of lesson. 
Example of method. 

FOR REVIEW AND SUGGESTION 
i. Why is the knowledge of the mechanics of reading important for 
the teacher? 

2. What are the various schools of teaching reading? How do they 
differ? 

3. What important truths are taught in each school? 

4. How is a teacher's work similar to a physician's? 

5. What determines time in reading? 

6. Why do we read descriptions of races rapidly ? 
7 What causes too rapid reading ? 

8. How can these causes be removed ? 

9. What causes too slow reading ? 

10. How can these causes be removed ? 

n. Would you read Lincoln's Gettysburg Address slowly or rapidly? 
Why? 

12. What would you do if a pupil in a reading class should read 
"America" very rapidly? 

13. At what rate should "Mrs. Caudle's Curtain Lectures" be read? 
Kipling's "Recessional" ? 

14. Name some selections to be read in rapid time. Medium time. 
Slow time. 

15. Should a child ever be told to read slower? When? 

16. How far should the temperament of children be taken into account 
in criticising the rate of their reading ? 

17. Will pupils of foreign ancestry require any different treatment 
from pupils of American ancestry ? 

18. Under what circumstances should a teacher read to pupils ? 



CHAPTER II 
GROUPING 

A thing that affects Time, though important enough to be 
treated separately, is the subject of grouping. Good readers 
instinctively divide the words of a sentence into groups 
of varying lengths. The purpose of this grouping is 
that the hearer may receive the thought in units larger than 
words, and thereby understand it the more easily. When 
words expressing an idea are grouped together, the hearer re- 
ceives the idea as a unit. If the words are not given as a group, 
he receives a part of the idea, and must change his idea as each 
new element is introduced. This grouping is not only essen- 
tial to intelligent reading, but it is also natural. The mind 
finds it hard to hold long sentences in their entirety. A child 
will either break up these sentences into groups of comprehen- 
sible length, or giving up the task, read the whole sentence as a 
string of words. He may even attach some words of the next 
sentence to his string, and be sternly informed by a mechanical 
teacher that he forgot to drop his voice at the period. It is the 
business of the teacher to promote the tendency to group words 
in reading. 

What words belong in a group is a matter determined 
by the thought alone. The mechanical teacher has a difficult 
task in teaching grouping, for there are no certain mechanical 
aids in discovering the groups. Punctuation is of some assist- 
ance, not because marks of punctuation mean pauses, but be- 
cause they indicate thought-units, and therefore, words grouped 
together in reading. Notice this sentence : — ' ' Earth , that nour- 
ished thee, shall claim thy growth. ' ' Here the commas set off 

*3 



i 4 ESSENTIALS OF READING 

a supplementary clause. This relative clause is also a group of 
words read together. On the other hand, in the sentence — 
" Every Tom, Dick, and Harry was invited," there are com- 
mas, but the words are grouped together. Certainly no good 
reader would pause after the first word in the line, — " But, look 
you, Cassius — " Punctuation, then, does not determine 
grouping, but does indicate structure of the sentence. Struc- 
ture depends on thought, and thought determines grouping. 

In the following sentences there are very clearly defined 
groups, while there are but few punctuation marks. The 
groups are indicated by dashes. " At the present day — the 
value of the cat — as a useful and pleasant inmate of the home 
— is generally recognized. ' ' "The Star of Napoleon — was 
just reaching its zenith, — as that of Washington — was be- 
ginning to wane." 

Children should be taught to feel the thought-groups and 
to indicate them while reading. The voice should not 
drop as at the end of the sentence. The sentence unit should 
still be in the child's mind. He should glance through the sen- 
tence before he begins to read. He should know that he will 
not be through before he gives the whole thought. He should 
read the sentence as a unit, dividing the connected ideas into 
subordinate groups of varying lengths. 

The primary pupil will find his first sentences to be single 
groups; as, " I have a leaf. ' ' But even in the latter part of the 
first reader, grouping begins; as, " Three little squirrels — live 
in a tree." Grammar grade pupils find work like this: 
" Fourscore and seven years ago — our fathers brought forth 
upon this continent — a new nation, — conceived in liberty, — and 
dedicated to the proposition — that all men are created equal." 

Notice the great importance of proper grouping in the read- 
ing of the last lines of Whittier's " Barbara Frietchie." Try 
reading it by lines and then by groups. 



GROUPING 15 



All day long through Frederick Street/ 
Sounded the tread of marching feet; / 

All day long / that free flag / tost 
Over the heads of the rebel host. / 

Ever its torn folds / rose and fell 

On the loyal winds that loved it well; / 

And through the hill-gaps / sunset light 
Shone over it with a warm good-night. / 

Barbara Frietchie's work / is o'er, / 

And the Rebel rides on his raids no more. / 

Honor to her! / and let a tear 

Fall, / for her sake, / on Stonewall's bier. / 

Over Barbara Frietchie's grave, / 
Flag of Freedom and Union; / wave! 

Peace/and order/and beauty/draw 
• Round thy symbol of light and law ; / 

And ever the stars above / look down 
On thy stars below / in Frederick town!/ 

Few rules can be given the pupil about grouping. The 

only one that is universal is, that there is never more than one 
emphatic word in a group. If the reader decides to emphasize an 
additional word in a group upon which he is already decided, 
he will instinctively make two groups out of what he had before 
made but one. Work from the thought side. Help the pupils to 
pick out groups. Have them copy paragraphs and put marks 
where the groups are separated. Sometimes it is made more 
plain to the children by telling them that the words in a group 
are spoken as if they were parts of one word. 

Allow liberty of thought. The pupil should have reason- 
able scope for individuality in grouping, as in emphasis or 
time. After a time, he will acquire the ability and the habit, 
and oral reading will become for him much more of a plea- 



16 ESSENTIALS OF READING 

sure. The following verses are separated into groups. There 
are good grounds for differences of opinion* in regard to 
some of the groups. In fact, it is uncommon for two teachers 
to agree on all the groups in a selection. Many will read the 
lines thus: 

iHis brow is wetnwith honest sweaty 

iHe earnsiiwhate'er he can,i 
|And looks the whole world||in the face,i 

|For he owes notpany man.| 

Most persons will read it as given in the text below, This 
selection is grouped by underscoring. The beginning and end 
of each group is indicated by an upward turn of the line, 
thus: 

[Honor to herlnand let a tear 

Fallj|for her sake,||on Stonewall's bier.| 

This method of marking groups is preferable to the ordinary 
vertical line plan because it obscures the text less and because it 
directs attention to the group rather than to the pause that 
separates the groups. 

THE VILLAGE BLACKSMITH 

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 

i. |Under a spreading chestnut tree| 
[The village smithy stands;) 
[The smithy |a mighty man is he,| 
jWith large and sinewy hands?) 
|And the muscles of his brawny arms| 
[Are strong as iron bands.) 

2. [His hair is crisp^and black,] |and long,] 

|His face is like the tana 
|His brow is wet with honest sweat,| 

|He earns whate'er he can,| 
lAnd looks the whole world in the face,) 

|F or he owes not any man.| 



GROUPING 17 



3. iWeek, in,iiweek out,j|from mora till nighti 

|You can hear his bellows blow;i 
t You can hear him swing his heavy sledge,) 

[With measured beatuand slow,! 
iLike a sexton] [ringing the village bell,| 

,When the evening sun; jis low.) 

4. | And children coming home from school | 

[Look in at the open door;) 
t They love to see the flaming forge,; 

j And hear the bellows roar,] 
[And catch the burning sparksjjthat fly 

Like chaff from a threshing-floor. t 

5. jHe goes on Sunday to the church,] 

lAnd sits among his boys;| 
|He hears the parson pray and preach;; 

!He hears his daughter's voice,) 
Ringing in the village choir,) # 

tAnd it makes his heart rejoice.) 

6. |It sounds to him like her mother's voice | 

[Singing in paradise ! | 
iHe needs must think of her once more,) 

[How in the grave she lies;i 
I And with his hard, rough handle wipes 

A tear out of his eyes.) 

7. |Toiling„ — ,rejoicing„ — sorrowing,! 

[Onward through life he goes;; 
[Each morningipees some task begun,) 

lEach evening||sees it close ;i 
[Something attempted ^something done,| 

[Has earned a night's repose.) 

8. |Thanks )M thanks to thee,nmy worthy friend,] 

|For the lesson thou hast taught!) 
jThus at the flaming forge of life[ 

lOur fortunesjimust be wrought;) 
t Thus on each sounding anvilnshaped 

Each burning deeded thoughtl t 



x8 ESSENTIALS OF READING 



OUTLINE OF CHAPTER II 

GROUPING 

Purpose of grouping. 
Naturalness of grouping. 
What determines grouping. 
Influence of punctuation. 
Duty of the teacher. 
Grouping in primary grades. 
Grouping in advanced grades. 
Liberty of thought. 
Methods of making groups. 
Example. "The Village Blacksmith." 

FOR REVIEW AND SUGGESTION 
i. How does grouping affect time? 

2 . Upon what principle of thought-getting is grouping based ? 

3. Do people group words in conversation ? 

4. What part does punctuation play in grouping ? 

5. Can children group words correctly? 

6. How much individual liberty should be allowed in grouping? 

7. What exercises can be given children to train them in grouping ? 

8. How would you group the sentence, "He laughed at the sugges- 
tion?" Change to the passive voice. 

9. Did the cow jump [ Over the moon,, or jump over, the moon? 

10. Divide into groups, a The dish ran away with the spoon." 

11. Can you suggest a single verb that could be substituted for the 
verb-phrase in the preceding sentence ? 

12. Try changing the sentences in n and 12 to the passive voice. 

13. What difference in meaning in "The boy who was hurt was 
taken home," and "The boy, who was hurt, was taken home?" 



CHAPTER III 
MELODY 
The function of melody, the movement of the voice up 
and down in pitch, is to show the motive of the speaker. 

This includes showing the relation of the words. The words, 
" Jones goes tomorrow," do not show the full thought of the 
speaker. There may be three very different meanings. "Jones 
goes tomorrow, ' ' shows that the speaker wishes to state the 
fact that it is Jones, not some one else who goes. The motive 
in "Jones goes tomorrow," is to tell that he "goes," not 
" comes," while "Jones goes tomorrow" indicates when he 
goes. The word that indicates the important thing, in other 
words, the main idea, is spoken higher in pitch than the other 
words of the sentence. It is often spoken with more energy 
also. 

In every sentence or every phrase there is a main idea. 
Take, for example, "I am going to school, " spoken in answer 
to the question, " Where are you going ? " In this sentence the 
main idea is expressed by the word "school." Everything 
else in the sentence is of much less importance. The speaker 
will therefore raise the pitch of the voice in speaking the word 
" school." Indeed, a small boy asked the question, may ignore 
the accompanying words, and answer simply, "School ." In 
the sentence, "I would rather be a doctor than a lawyer, " 
the main ideas are expressed by the words "doctor" and 
" lawyer." These words are therefore spoken with a change 
of inflection that results in placing the two ideas in contrast. 

The first time an idea is mentioned, it is, generally, 
the main idea, and so is emphatic. 

19 



20 ESSENTIALS OF READING 

For example: 

i. Mary has a doll. 

2. She loves her doll. 

3. She has a book, too. 

4. It is a new book. 

In the first sentence, there are three new ideas expressed by 
"Mary," "has," and "doll." No matter how often the 
words occur again in this connection, they will not have direct 
emphasis. In the second sentence, the main idea is the verb 
"loves" and all the rest must be subordinated. In the third 
sentence, "book" gives the new idea. In the fourth, the 
purpose is to predicate newness of something mentioned 
before, so the important word is "new." 

The time to begin expressive reading is with the first 
sentence the child reads. It is easier to form correct habits 
than to change errors after they have become fixed. In reading 
a simple sentence like the first above, after the pupil knows 
the words the teacher can ask him to tell what the first sentence 
says. It is worth while to take time to have him tell the 
sentence clearly and distinctly, making good conversation 
the standard. Each important idea will have a slight empha- 
sis effected by melody, stress and time. The teacher should 
see that the article "a" is given as though an unaccented 
syllable of the word following. 

Before the pupil tries to read the second sentence, the teacher 
should ask, " What does the next sentence tell that is new? " 
Or she can say, "How does Mary feel toward her doll ?" The 
pupil should answer in the language of the book. If the teacher 
has succeeded in causing him to think clearly of the new relation 
he will answer with correct melody, the entire sentence being in 
tone-effect equivalent to a word of four syllables with the accent 
on the second syllable. 



MELODY 21 



Before the pupil reads aloud the third sentence, the teacher 
should ask him what it tells that is new, or should say, " What 
else does she have ? ' ' The impulse of the pupil, if he has 
the meaning, will be to say, "A book." This is a good sign. 
But the teacher should then add, " Tell me all of it," and 
should question the pupil until he gives it as if it were a word of 
four syllables with the accent on the last. 

To enable the pupil to see the new relation in the fourth sen- 
tence, the teacher can ask, "What kind of a book is it ? * ' Un- 
til the pupil is able to select the main idea readily, the teacher 
should continue questioning in one or both of the ways suggest- 
ed, and should return to the questioning at any time when the 
pupil shows a tendency merely to pronounce words. 

A sentence must be read in its relation to what precedes 
and what follows it. It is sometimes said that a sentence, 
like the first example above, can have four different meanings, 
and so can be read correctly in four different ways. That 
would be true if the sentence stood alone. It would then be 
valueless, as no one could tell what the writer meant. From the 
nature of the case, a sentence must have a sufficient setting to 
show its meaning, or it serves no purpose of language. In the 
example mentioned, the second sentence makes clear the mean- 
ing of the first. If the second read, " She had a flower,' ' it 
would change the meaning of the first entirely. If it read, "It 
is not the doll she wants, ' ' the meaning of the first would be dif- 
ferent still. Change the second to " Lucy wants it," and it 
changes the first accordingly. Write it, " She wants a flower, • ' 
and this conditions the meaning of the first. If the second is, 
" Lucy has a flower, ' ' there is still a different shade of meaning. 
Let the teacher, for her own study of sentence meaning, try the 
effect of changing the second sentence so as to give still different 
meanings; as "Lucy wants a flower," "Lucy has a doll, too," 
" Lucy wants the doll, ' ' etc. It would be well for the teacher to 



22 ESSENTIALS OF READING 

write the first sentence and follow it with as many different sen- 
tences as can be arranged to vary the meaning of the first. Both 
sentences should be written out each time. This is a most im- 
portant exercise, and will lead to clearness in handling larger 
units. 

Children should be taught to look for the main ideas. 
When a sentence is read without expression, it means that the 
reader does not have in his mind the meaning of the sentence. 
The obvious remedy is to get him to think the right thought. 
To ask him to imitate the teacher's rendering, or that of another 
pupil, does not meet the requirement. He must be led to see for 
himself the main idea. The teacher can do this by questions 
or substitutions. For instance, in the text given below, suppose 
a pupil reads, "Then the Farmer came to look at his wheat. ' ' 
The teacher says, " Who came?" and the pupil answers by 
reading the sentence correctly, "Then the Farmer came to look 
at his wheat." Or the teacher may say in a question- 
ing tone, "Then the Hunter came," and the answer will 
be, "Then the Farmer came to look at his wheat." 
By either the question or the substitution, the teacher brings 
the thought to the child's consciousness, and the thought 
produces the correct emphasis. It is a pedagogical blunder to 
have pupils read a sentence in several different ways, in accord- 
ance with the so-called "expression exercises ' ' of some texts on 
reading. It creates the impression that meanings can be jug- 
gled about, and that it is really not an important matter just 
how a sentence is read. As a matter of fact, there is but one 
way to read a sentence, as a sentence has, or should have, but 
one meaning. 

Sometimes it is impossible to determine the meaning. This 
condition should be recognized as a fault of the writer, and 
should not be used as an excuse for inaccurate thinking, or for 
careless expression. Writers of primers and first readers err 



MELODY 23 



most in this respect. Many of them are so anxious to intro- 
duce words that they use them in any relation, so they are 
used frequently. There is as much reason for lesson unity in 
these earlier years as at any other time. The paragraphs 
should have proper coherence. Except in exercises especially 
designated as reviews, a sentence should never be used that 
does not have consistent paragraph relations. Teachers 
should feel perfectly free to omit exercises that violate this prin- 
ciple, as there is no such pressing need of acquiring a large 
vocabulary that it should be accomplished at the expense of a 
violation of the language sense. Then there is plenty of material 
available that is consistent in this regard. This should be 
drawn upon, in the interest of forming habits that will not 
need to be changed later. 

Whatever is already in consciousness is not emphatic. 
It matters not how the idea came to the attention. It may have 
been mentioned before, as in the illustrations given at the begin- 
ning of this chapter. It may be supplied by a picture, as in the 
story of "The House that Jack Built. " It may be implied by 
the nature of the context, as occurs in the story of the " Prodigal 
Son. ' ' "And the father said to his servants, 'Bring forth the best 
robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes 
on his feet/ ' ' The use of the ring is clearly implied by the con- 
text. Such a ring is worn on the hand, so the relation of the 
hand to the ring is implied in mentioning the ring. So shoes are 
wearing apparel for the feet, and the use is included in the 
idea expressed by the name. Neither "hand" nor "feet" is 
as emphatic as "ring" and "shoes." 

Inasmuch as a pronoun represents another word, it cannot 
be used unless the idea is already under consideration. Hence 
pronouns do not have absolute emphasis. When a pronoun is 
emphatic, it is emphasis of contrast, of question, of affirmation, 
of force, or of irony. 



24 ESSENTIALS OF READING 

The circumflex, or wave inflection is used most frequent- 
ly to show emphasis of contrast. In speech, there is no mis- 
taking the intention of making a contrast. A warning is 
given by a peculiar circumflex, or wave of the voice. This cir- 
cumflex is used for other purposes, but the difference is shown 
by the quality. No one confuses it with sarcasm, irony, scorn, 
indignation, or the hundred other shades of meaning indicated 
by the use of the wave. In reading, the presence of contrast 
must.be learned from the context. The surety with which it is 
discerned depends upon the ability of the reader to hold in 
mind the meanings already in consciousness, and to direct the 
eye far in advance in search of the full meaning. Often there 
will result a shifting and rearrangement of related meanings. 
The less frequent this readjustment is necessary, the more satis- 
factory will be the result whether the reading be silent or oral. 

The difference between direct and circumflex emphasis can 
be represented graphically. Thus: "Harry is at the window 11 
There is a change of pitch and of stress. The transition from 
the higher to the lower pitch is made between syllables, the voice 
being dropped abruptly from one to the other. If the contrast 
were intended, the contrasting ideas would be indicated by a 
wave; thus: "Harry is at the window. Mary is near the 
organ." The wave belongs mostly to the vowel sounds, 
and involves all but the most obscure sounds. 

Care must be taken not to attempt to emphasize too many- 
words. Sometimes an ambitious and affected reader will 
give utterance to such an absurdity as this, " Towards 
noon the farmer and his son came into the field. 11 In 
this sentence, the reader must decide whether " noon,' ' or 
"farmer and his son, " or "field 1f expresses the central idea. 
Only one of these ideas can sway the mind at a time. Only 
one of them should be emphasized. No compromise can be 
allowed by placing some emphasis on each. The aim should 



MELODY 



2 5 



be to emphasize but few words, but to emphasize those few 
words hard. Let common sense rule, and let the teacher be 
considerate of the pupil's honest opinion. 

The following story is marked to show the main ideas. 
Many expressions that have a slight emphasis are not marked. 
Such emphasis takes care of itself. The important thing is to 
have the main ideas brought out very distinctly. As in group- 
ing words, there is great room for differences of opinion. 

In a field of wheat there was a Lark's nest, and in the nest there 
were four young Larks almost large enough to fly. One morning 
when the mother Lark was going out for something to eat she said to 
her little ones: — 

" The wheat is now ripe enough to be cut, and there is no telling 
how soon the reapers will come. So keep wide awake to-day, and when 
I come home tell me all that you see or hear." 

The little Larks promised that they would do so, and the mother 
flew away singing. 

She was hardly out of sight when the Farmer who owned the field 
came with his son to look at his wheat. "I tell you what, John," he 
said, "it is time that this wheat was cut. Go round to our neighbors 
this evening and ask them to come to-morrow and help us." 

When the old Lark came home the young ones told her what they 
had heard; and they were so badly frightened that they begged her to 
move them out of the field at once. 

"There is no hurry," she said. "If he waits for his neighbors to 
come he will have to wait a long time." 

The next day, while the mother Lark was away, the Farmer and his 
son came again. 

"John, did you ask the neighbors to come?" said the Farmer. 

"Yes, sir," said John, "and they all promised to be here early." 

"But they have not come," said the Farmer, "and the wheat is so 
ripe that it must be cut at once. Since our neighbors have failed us, 
we must call in our kinsfolk. So mount your horse and ride round 
to all your uncles and cousins, and ask them to be sure and come 
to-morrow and help us." 

The young Larks were in great fear when they heard this, and in 
the evening they told their mother all about it. 

"Mother," they said, "we shall be killed if we stay here another 
day. Our wings are strong enough; let us fly away right now." 

"Don't be in a hurry," said the mother. "If the Farmer waits for 
his kinsfolk the wheat will not be cut to-morrow ; for the uncles and 
cousins have their own harvest work to do." 

She went out again the next day, but told the young ones to 
notice everything that happened while she was gone. 



26 ESSENTIALS OF READING 

Towards noon the Farmer and his son came into the field. 

"See how late in the day it is," said the Farmer, "and not a man 
has come to help us." 

"And the grain is so ripe that it is all falling down and going to 
waste," said his son. 

"Yes," said the Farmer, "and since neither our friends nor our kins- 
folk will help us, we must do the work ourselves. Let us go home 
and whet our scythes and get everything ready, so that we can begin 
before sunrise in the morning." 

The old Lark came home quite early that day, and the little Larks 
told her what they had heard. 

"Now, indeed, it is time for us to be off," she said. "Shake 
your wings and get ready to fly; for when a man makes up his mind 
to do a thing himself, it is pretty sure to be done." 

Melody has more to do than to point out main ideas. It 

must also show the motive of the speaker in other respects. In 
the sentence, " You are going to vote for me, aren't you?" the 
words "aren't you ' ' are emphasized no matter what the motive. 
The melody, however, may differ materially. If the one speak- 
ing is merely coaxing, the voice will rise, and then fall, a 
circumflex inflection, thus, "You are going to vote for me, 
aren't you ? " If the one speaking is threatening, the inflection 
will take an upward turn. In each case the melody reveals the 
motive in the mind of the speaker. A person says, "Such 
pleasant weather, " and we know that he means what he says. 
On a stormy day, he may say, " Such pleasant weather," and 
we know that he means the very opposite of what his words 
without melody mean. A person may say at one time, " The 
work is not half done. ' ' At another he may express an idea 
exactly opposite by saying " The work is not half done. ' ' 

In conversation, no mistakes are made in melody, either by 
adults or by children. Neither are mistakes made in interpret- 
ing melody. Children recognize the patronizing teacher by the 
inflection of her words, and they accordingly hate her. She 
wonders why her pupils do not love her, when her motive to flat- 
ter and deceive is revealed in every word she speaks. This is 



MELODY 27 



also the reason why the directions from one teacher are quickly 
and completely obeyed, while those of another are almost 
ignored. The children recognize, by the melody of the words 
of the one, that she intends to be obeyed, and by the melody 
of the words of the other, that she is not really in earnest. 
The second teacher cannot imitate the manner of the first, 
without an actual change in methods of discipline. If, how- 
ever, she reforms, and really intends to follow words by acts, 
the children will recognize in her words, also, the earnestness 
of the motive. 

So also, a reader cannot give a required inflection with- 
out having in his mind the motive. Therefore the teacher 
must see to it that the pupil has the thought in his mind. 
Then, if there is no obstacle, such as embarrassment, the 
melody will be correct. There is no other way of getting 
correct melody. 

An illustration. At the beginning of Antony's speech, he 
says, "For Brutus is an honorable man. ' ' "Honorable ' ' is em- 
phatic, and the melody is commonplace. Later in the speech, 
Antony's motive changes, and to show the new motive, the 
word must be given an entirely different inflection. Graphically 
represented, the first would be something like this, " For 

Brutus is an honorable man. ' ' Later in the speech it becomes, 
— ^ s — \ 

" For Brutus is an honorable man. " It is not necessary to 
analyze this inflection. In the grades, such analysis will not 
aid in securing good expression. One thing and one only will 
secure it, and that one thing is for the reader to have in his mind 
the irony in which Antony spoke the sentence. 

It would not be profitable to make an extended analysis of 
pitch and melody at this time. For convenience, however, we 
give the following summary of the principal uses of key and in- 
flection, as found in most works on the subject. It is not to be 



28 ESSENTIALS OF READING 

thought that this summary includes all the uses of melody. 
Indeed, no work can do so. Herein lies one of the reasons 
why such works are not more useful to a teacher. 
A high key, the average pitch of the melody, marks: 
a. — Strong desire to communicate thought. 

Example, — "Friends, Romans, Countrymen! lend me 

your ears. ' ' 
b. — High nervous strain. 

Example, — "Charge, Chester, charge! On, Stanley, on!" 
A low key marks: 
a. — Controlled mental conditions. 

Example, — " The curfew tolls the knell of parting day. " 
b. — Little or no desire to communicate thought. 

Example, — " To be or not to be, that is the question. " 
The falling inflection marks: 
a. — Completeness. 

Example, — " I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him. ' ' 
b.— Momentary completeness. 

Example, — "And turned away and spake to his own 

soul." 
c. — Decreased nervous tension. 

Example, — "It is finished, all is over. ' ' 
The rising inflection marks: 
a. — Increased nervous tension. 

Example,— " What! I a coward?" 
b. — Uncertainty. 

Example, — " I don't know about that ? ' ' 
c. — Question to be answered by yes, or no. 

Example, — " Are you going home ? ' ' 
The circumflex inflection, one made by a rising, and then 
a falling inflection, or by a falling and then a rising inflection, 
marks some complex mental conditions, including contrast. 



MELODY 29 



In, " Brutus is an honorable man," the inflection is affected 
by the two idea s of what Brutus is called, and what Brutus 
really is. " A-a-a-ah! I have caught you n-o-o-o-wl" Here 
are the elements, " You thought you were safe, but I have 
caught you anyhow. ' ' 

"Julius Caesar, the Emperor of Rome," was his friend. Here 
we find Caesar so important that it is marked by a falling 
inflection, but the looking forward of the mind complicates the 
situation and adds an upward turn to the falling inflection, 
giving a circumflex inflection. This pointing forward of the 
voice, to indicate that the thought is not yet completed, is a 
subject of such importance that it must be studied more par- 
ticularly. 

The motive of the speaker in regard to the succession 
of ideas is shown by melody. Take for example the sentence 
from Elizabeth Stuart Phelps' "Mary Elizabeth,"— " She 
was poor, she was sick, she was dirty, she was cold, she was 
hungry, she was frightened. ' ' If the reader decides that this 
is a climax, that " frightened "is the most important thing of 
all, that it is in the mind of the story-teller from the begin- 
ning, then the reader must make the melody point on and 
on, until the climax is reached. Something like this will re- 
sult: " She was poor, she was sick, she was ragged, she was 
cold, she was hungry, she was frightened. ' ' If, however, the 
reader believes that this is not a climax, that it is only a cata- 
log of wretchedness, that each thing is in itself enough misery 
for one small girl, then the melody must indicate this motive 
by a slight falling inflection on each of the important words. 
This indicates momentary completeness. It means that the 
mind is almost filled by the idea, although it is still but a part 
of the full thought. 

This falling inflection is very different from the inflection at 



30 ESSENTIALS OF READING 

the end of the sentence. It is, at most, but a tipping down- 
ward of but one word. At the end of a sentence, the voice 
usually rises and then falls in two or even three successive steps. 
The sentence read with the second interpretation, would be 

something like the following: — " She was poor, she was sick, 

\ \ \ \ 

she was dirty, she was ragged, she was cold, she was hungry, 

she was frightened.' ' 

Another sentence from the same selection, illustrating the 
same things, is this one: " Whether the door-keeper was away, 
or busy, or sick, or careless, or whether the head-waiter at the 
dining-room door was so tall that he couldn't see so short a 
beggar, or however it was, Mary Elizabeth did get in; by the 
door-keeper, past the head-waiter, under the shadow of the 
clerk, over the smooth, slippery marble floor, the child crept 
on. ' ' In the sentence, there are two very important ideas, 
"did get in," and " the child crept on." The voice will point 
onward with even or upward inflections until the first is 
reached, then a downward turn will mark the momentary 
completeness at the word "in," or, it will have an upward 
turn at the end of the downward inflection, and will indicate 
to no one that the thought is completed. In the last half of 
the sentence, phrase after phrase points on, until the sentence 
rounds out in the most important thing of all, " the child crept 
on." 

In the following poem the falling inflections are marked, the 
rising, momentary completeness, and even inflection: 

CROSSING THE BAR 

Sunset and evening star, — ■ 

And one clear call for me : \ 

And may there be no moaning of the bar, — 

When I put out to sea, \ 



MELODY 31 



But such a tide as moving seems asleep, — ■ 

Too full for sound and foam, — 

When that which drew from out the boundless deep — 

Turns again home. \ 

Twilight and evening bell, — 

And after that the dark! \ 

And may there be no sadness of farewell, — 

When I embark ;\ 

For though from out our bourne of time and place, — 
The flood may bear me far, / 

I hope to see my Pilot \ face to face\ 

When I have crost the bar. \ 

Tennyson. 

In succession of ideas, as in the case of single words 
and phrases, the teacher must work through the thought. 

Let it be said, once more, that the analysis of melody will not 
help the pupil to give good expression. If he knows the whole 
thought, and has the whole thought in his mind, he will give it. 
The teacher must see to it that these two requirements are met. 
For example, remember the two interpretations of the sentence, 
" She was poor, she was sick, she was dirty, she was ragged, she 
was cold, she was hungry, she was frightened. ' ' Whichever 
interpretation be selected, the teacher should not talk to the pu- 
pil about climaxes, and upward inflections, and momentary 
completeness, and so on. If the climax interpretation is select- 
ed, the teacher should see to it that the child thinks of "fright- 
ened, ' ' as being the worst thing of all, that he has this in his 
mind from the beginning, and that he knows that this word 
will be the end of the thought. If the other interpretation is 
selected, she should speak of the troubles separately, allowing 
each one to fill the mind of the child as he reads it. 

The child should be taught to read by sentences. When 
he becomes a good reader, his eye will travel far ahead of his 



32 



ESSENTIALS OF READING 



tongue. To train this skill, a child should be given time to 
glance through a sentence before he begins to speak it. Such a 
sentence as the second given from " Mary Elizabeth ' ' can be 
read well by no one, without such a preparation. In the lower 
grades where sentences are short, the " Look and Say" method 
should be used for weeks at a time. Have the child read the 
sentence silently, close the book, keeping a finger in the place, 
and say it. This is a splendid device for getting thoughtful 
reading and good expression. Yet this sometimes happens. 
The child glances at a sentence, getting the thought at a glance, 
looks up at the teacher, and says the sentence correctly and 
eagerly; and then the teacher snaps out, " Look at your 
book and read it." The teacher is wrong. The pupil is 
right. He has gotten the thought and given the thought. 
This is reading. 



OUTLINE OF CHAPTER III. 
MELODY 

Melody and emphasis. 

The function of melody. 

The main idea. 

A new idea. 

Related ideas. 
■ Training children to find main ideas. 

The circumflex inflection indicating contrast in main ideas. 

An example. 
Melody and the motive of the speaker. 

Necessity of having the motive in the mind. 

Function of different melodies. 
Key. 

High key. 

Low key. 
Inflection. 

Falling inflection. 

Rising inflection. 



MELODY 33 



Circumflex inflection. 
Succession of ideas. 
Illustration. 

Methods of work. 

FOR REVIEW AND SUGGESTION 
i . What is the function of melody ? 

2. What is a main idea ? 

3. What makes an idea important? 

4. How often, in the same selection, may the same idea be impor- 
tant? 

5. How early can the child be expected to give expressive reading? 

6. Can a sentence be read correctly without a knowledge of the 
context ? When ? 

7. How much should children be taught about melody ? 

8. What is the peculiar melody in emphasis of contrast ? 

9. What is the effect of trying to emphasize too many words? 

10. What office does melody perform besides indicating main ideas? 

11. How can you say, "She is a sweet lady," and mean the opposite? 

12. Can a reader give a thought that is not in his own mind? 

13. What determines key ? 

14. What may a falling inflection indicate? A rising? A circum- 
flex? 

15. How can a pupil be trained to read periodic sentences? 

16. How can pupils be trained to read by sentences? 

17. Should children ever be allowed to cut up sentences in reading 
them? When? 

18. Should children be required to look at the text as they read ? 



CHAPTER IV 
FORCE 

Before proceeding with the subject of force and also 
with that of quality, it is necessary to make clear the 
distinction between reading, declaiming, and acting. Read- 
ing has been confused many times with declaiming and acting, 
much to the detriment of reading. The teaching of reading is 
injured, rather than helped, by the methods of the elocutionist. 
The function of acting is to create ideas in the minds of those 
who see and hear. The actor does this by imitating, as far as 
possible, the actions of a person in the imagined circumstances. 
He is assisted by costumes, cosmetics, elaborate scenery, and 
ingenious stage devices for imitating the real conditions. 
There are, however, certain limitations. The action of years 
must be portrayed in an evening, a dozen men must serve for an 
army. The muttered asides of the villain must be pronounced 
in a tone audible to hundreds of people. 

The function of declaiming is also to create certain ideas in 
the minds of those who see and hear. It differs from acting, 
principally, in the increased number of disadvantages. No 
assistance can be gotten from scenery and stage contrivances, 
and but little from costume and cosmetics. The declaimer 
must get along without even a dozen men in his army. 
Still, imitation, though helped largely by suggestion, is the 
purpose of the declaimer. The hapless heroine wrings her 
hands and sinks swooning to the floor. The valiant warrior 
draws and flourishes his imaginary sword. The lash of the 
noble Ben Hur writhes and hisses, and hisses and writhes again 
and again over the backs of his four. 

34 



FORCE 35 



The function of reading is very different from that of 
acting or declaiming. It is twofold, and the most important 
of the two purposes is not in acting or declaiming at all. 
More than nine-tenths of reading is silent reading, and its 
purpose is wholly the getting of thought. Of oral reading, the 
purpose is to convey thought, and to create ideas by means of 
suggestion, not at all by means of imitation. The sooner the 
teacher of reading gets the idea of imitating out of her mind, 
the better it is for her pupils. The idea of a person reading 
should not be the picture of a person speaking from a platform, 
but rather that of a gentleman in his library reading to his 
friends, or of a lady by the bedside of a sick friend, or of a 
school-boy standing by his seat reading to his fellows. With 
this idea of reading in our minds, let us turn to the subject of 
force. 

Force manifests the degree of mental energy in the 
mind of the speaker. It results in an increased muscular 
tension of the organs of speech. When force is in the nature of 
an explosive utterance, followed by a diminishing of effort, it is 
said to have radical stress. The stress is on the first 
of the syllable or word. It arises from the personal energy 
or the personal emotion of the speaker. The teacher says, 
" Children, be quiet!" The expression shows her determin- 
ation to have silence. The force arises from her own 
energy. 

Another and less common kind of stress is final stress. 
This is found where the force arises from the object mentioned, 
not from the speaker, as for example, "What! you! is it you!" 
A third kind of stress is median stress. Here the energy is 
greatest at the middle of the expression; as " This was the 
noblest Roman of them all. " 

This classification may be of service to the teacher, 
but not to the pupil. All work with the pupil must be 



36 ESSENTIALS OF READING 

through the thought; and suggestion, not imitation, is the 
result. Take for example the lines from "Barbara Frietchie:" 

Up the street came the rebel tread, 
Stonewall Jackson riding ahead. 

Under his slouched hat left and right 
He glanced; the old flag met his sight. 

"Halt!" — the dust-brown ranks stood fast*, 
"Fire!" — out blazed the rifle-blast. 

We should not attempt to have the pupil imitate the sound 
of the general 's voice, as he gave the command. If he spoke 
as the military officers of today issue commands to troops, 
what he said sounded far more like " Ho-o-o-w-w" than like 
" Halt." However, the question to the pupils, " How do you 
think he spoke the words?" is not out of place: for the ques- 
tion will bring to the minds of the pupils the fact that this man 
was the commander, that what he said was done without 
hesitation; and he said, "Halt!" "Fire!" If a pupil has 
this in his voice, as he speaks the words, a tone of energy and 
of command, this tone, this suggestion, is what we want, not 
loudness. 

When we reach the next words of the general, let the pupil 
think once more that this was the general, that his word was 
law, that if he should command his men to place a comrade 
against the wall and shoot him, it would be done. Let the 
pupil remember that this general knew his power, and that 
he used it, that he said what he meant and nothing but what 
he meant. With all this in mind let the pupil read : 

" Who touches a hair of yon gray head 
Dies like a dog! March on, ' ' he said. 

The problem of the teacher is to get the reader to imag- 
ine the situation of the speaker in a selection. When this is 



FORCE 37 



accomplished, the words of the reader will come with such force 
as to suggest the emotions of the original speaker. Let us be 
satisfied with this, and not attempt to secure imitation. Stress 
denotes the state of the mind. The only way to secure it in 
the right place is to secure the right state of mind. 

The following extracts show the kind of selections in the 
reading of which we may most easily get forceful expression 
from pupils. 

" One day we left our dolls under a big pine, while we ran off to wade 
for a few minutes. When we came back, not one was to be seen. 

" We hunted and hunted, and at last I happened to look up. What do 
you think I saw ? Those eleven dolls were hanging by their necks to the 
branches! 

" Donald stood near laughing. ' Santa Claus has given you a new 
Christmas tree,' he jeered, 'and more girl-dolls. ' 

" Then he began to throw stones at them. We screamed and begged 
him to stop, but he kept on. 

"At last he hit Amy Marston's ' Flora,' and we heard the face smash in. 
Now Amy was a little girl, but we all loved her, and Donald had been her 
slave the summer before. 

" Amy turned perfectly white and screamed: 'You've killed her! You've 
killed my precious dolly! ' then she fell right on the ground. 

" We were so frightened! Some one ran and picked Amy up, and 
some one else ran for her mother. ' ' 

The Heath Readers, Book Three. 

Sheridan now put spurs to his steed, and galloped along the road, 
swinging his hat to the soldiers, who watched him dashing past. He called 
out cheerily to them : " Face the other way, boys; we're going back! ' ' 

Galloping thus for twenty miles, Sheridan rode on, mile after mile. 
But all through that long gallop his noble steed never faltered, and the 
men, hearing his "Turn boys, turn, we're going back!" followed him 
blindly. 

When Sheridan finally came up to the troops, he encouraged them by 
crying: " Never mind, boys, we'll whip them yet. We shall sleep in our 
old quarters to-night. ' ' 

H. A. Guerber, Story of the Great Republic. 



38 ESSENTIALS OF READING 



THE FLAG GOES BY 

Hats off! 
Along the street there comes 
A blare of bugles, a ruffle of druniSa 
A flash of color beneath the sky; 

Hats off! 
The flag is passing by! 

Blue and crimson and white it shines^ 
Over the steel-tipped, ordered lines. 

Hats off! 
The Colors before us fly; 
But more than the Flag is passing by. 

Sea-fights and land-fights, grim and great*, 
Fought to make and to save the State; 
Weary marches, and sinking ships; 
Cheers of victory on dying lips; 

Days of plenty and years of peace; 
March of a strong land's swift increase; 
Equal justice, right, and law, 
Stately honor and reverend awe; 

Sign of a Nation, great and strong 
To ward her people from foreign wrong; 
Pride and glory and honor, all 
Live in the Colors to stand or fall. 

Hats off! 
Along the street there comes 
A blare of bugles, a ruffle of drums, 
And loyal hearts are beating high; 

Hats off! 
The flag is passing by! 

Henry Holcomb Bennett. 



FORCE 39 



OUTLINE OF CHAPTER IV 
FORCE 

The difference between reading, declaiming, and acting. 
Acting, — imitation. 

Declaiming, — imitation and suggestion. 
Reading. 

Silent, gleaming of thought, 

Oral, transfer of thought, suggestion. 
The function of force. 
Stress. 
Kinds of stress. 

Radical stress. 

Final stress. 

Median stress. 
Method of work. 
The teacher's problem. 
Exercises. , 

FOR REVIEW AND SUGGESTION 
i. What is the difference between acting, declaiming, and reading? 

2. Under what circumstances is it profitable to have the pupils hear 
elocutionists and actors? 

3. What idea of reading should a teacher have in mind ? 

4. What does force indicate? 

5. Of what psychological condition is force the result? 

6. What is stress? Distinguish the kinds of stress. 

7. How should a pupil read, "I heard the thunder roll"? Why 
shouM he read it so ? 

8. How can the teacher secure false or affected force ? 

9. How can the teacher secure genuine, heartfelt force ? 

10. Name some selections suitable for reading to illustrate force. 



CHAPTER V 
QUALITY 

The quality of the voice of the reader indicates the emo- 
tion. A reader controls his utterance in regard to time, and 
thereby indicates the importance or largeness of the thought. 
He changes the pitch of his words, and thus exhibits motives. 
He uses different degrees of muscular energy, and thereby dis- 
plays his earnestness. By changing the position of the organs 
of speech, he can change the actual quality of the sound of his 
voice. By movements of the tongue, the larynx, and the palate, 
he can affect the size and shape of the cavities through which 
the sound moves. He can do this to some extent voluntarily. 
The greatest changes are, however, caused by the influence 
of emotion. Thus we have come to recognize the emotional 
state of the speaker by the quality of voice resulting from 
these muscular changes. So the reader who wishes to express 
emotions must use tones of proper quality. If he wishes to 
express sorrow, his voice must have the quality that we recog- 
nize as the effect of sorrow. If he wishes to express hate, he 
must produce that quality given by the vocal organs when 
under the influence of hate. Enthusiasm, discouragement, 
benevolence, awe, anger, jealousy, all must be shown by the 
quality of the voice. In short, the good reader must be a 
master of a musical instrument, the human voice, in compari- 
son with whose marvelous power, flexibility, and delicacy, 
man-created instruments, even the master-pieces of Stradi- 
varius, or the greatest organs of the greatest builders, must 
sink in hopeless inferiority. 

The number of different qualities of the voice is almost 

40 



QUALITY 41 



infinite. Some of the most common have been named and 
classified. That called by singers the bright, ringing quality is 
produced when the organs of speech are influenced by the emo- 
tions of joy, happiness, liveliness and the like. For example: 

Has there any old fellow got mixed with the boys ? 
If there has take him out, without making a noise. 
Hang the almanac's cheat and the catalogue's spite; 
Old Time is a liar! We're twenty to-night! 
We're twenty, we're twenty! Who says we are more? 
He's tipsy, — young jackanapes! — show him the door! 
" Gray temples at twenty? " — -Yes, white if we please; 
Where the snowflakes fall thickest there's nothing can freeze. 

Holmes. 

Hurrah, hurrah for Sheridan! 

Hurrah, hurrah for horse and man! 

And when their statues are placed on high, 

Under the dome of the Union sky, 
, The American soldier's Temple of Fame, 

There with the glorious General's name, 

Be it said in letters both bold and bright: 

" Here is the steed that saved the day, 

By carrying Sheridan into the fight 

From Winchester, twenty miles away! ' ' 

Thomas Buchanan Read. 

What is called the dark, sombre, covered tone is produced 
by the influence of gloom, sorrow, sadness, discouragement, 
and the like. 

Good-by, proud world! I'm going home; 

Thou'rt not my friend, and I'm not thine; 
Long through the weary crowds I roam, 

A river ark on the ocean brine; 
Long I've been tossed like the driven foam, 
And now, proud world, I'm going home. 

Emerson. 
The organs of speech when not changed from the normal 
by any emotion give the quality called normal. Example: 



42 ESSENTIALS OF READING 

If to do were as easy as to know what were good to do, chapels had been 
churches, and poor men's cottages princes' palaces. It is a good divine 
that follows his own instructions: I can easier teach twenty what were 
good to be done, than be one of the twenty to follow mine own teaching. 
The brain may devise laws for the blood, but a hot temper leaps o'er a cold 
decree: such a hare is madness the youth to skip o'er the meshes of 
good counsel the cripple. 

Shakespeare. 

The voice when affected by deep, full, enlarged feeling takes 
a rich, full quality called the orotund. It is not necessarily 
accompanied by loudness. It comes naturally to the trained 
reader in reading passages of sublimity and grandeur. It is 
the evidence of exalted feeling. Examples: 

Roll on, thou deep and dark blue ocean — roll! 

Ten thousand fleets sweep over thee in vain; 

Man marks the earth with ruin — his control 

Stops with the shore; upon the watery plain 

The wrecks are all thy deeds, nor doth remain 

A shadow of man's ravage, save his own, 

When for a moment, like a drop of rain, 

He sinks into thy depths with bubbling groan, 

Without a grave, unknelled, uncomned, and unknown. 

Byron. 

It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining be- 
fore us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that 
cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion; that we here 
highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this na- 
tion, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom; and that govern- 
ment of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the 
earth. 

Abraham Lincoln. 

The quality of the voice when influenced by harsh and severe 
emotions that contract the muscles of the throat is called 
guttural. Hate, scorn, derision, have this quality. Examples: 



QUALITY 43 



Shylock (aside). How like a fawning publican he looks! 
I hate him, for he is a Christian, 
But more for that in low simplicity 
He lends out money gratis and brings down 
The rate of usance here in Venice. 
If I can catch him once upon the hip, 
I will feed fat the ancient grudge I bear him. 

Shakespeare. 

The aspirated quality may be produced by any emotion 
that produces the feeling of oppression. It may be fear, exhaus- 
tion, excitement, awe, terror, hate, or some others. Examples: 
Macbeth. Whence is that knocking ? 
How is't with me when every noise appalls me ? 
What hands are here? Ha! they pluck out mine eyes. 
Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood 
Clean from my hand? No; this my hand will rather 
The multitudinous seas incarnadine, 
Making the green one red. 

Shakespeare. 

Macduff. Approach the chamber, and destroy your sight 
With a new Gorgon. Do not bid me speak; 
See, and then speak yourself. 

(Exeunt Macbeth and Lennox.) 

Awake, awake! 
Ring the alarm bell, — Murther and treason! 
Banquo and Donalbain! — Malcolm! awake! 
Shake off this downy sleep, death's counterfeit, 
And look on death itself ! Up, up, and see 
The great doom's image! Malcolm! Banquo! 
As from your graves rise up, and walk like sprites, 
To countenance this horror. Ring the bell. 

Shakespeare. 

These qualities are the principal ones recognized in manuals. 
As a matter of fact there are not only many more qualities, 
but those given mingle, sometimes in complicated ways. The 
emotion in the following description of Jean Valjean in the 



44 ESSENTIALS OF READING 

Bishop's house is exceedingly complex. Fear, stealth, ferocity, 
remorse, all are mingled, and the quality of the voice is 
affected by all. 

When three o'clock struck it seemed to say, "To work." He took 
from his pocket a piece of iron, and walked toward the door of the ad- 
joining room. He found the door ajar. He pushed it boldly. A 
badly oiled hinge uttered a hoarse, prolonged cry. Jean Valjean started, 
shuddering and dismayed. A few minutes passed; nothing had stirred. 
He heard from the end of the room the calm and regular breathing or" 
the sleeping Bishop. Suddenly he stooped, for he was close to the bed. 

Victor Hugo. 

All these qualities of the voice of the reader indicate 
the emotions. There is no mechanical way of gaining them 
or of putting emotion into reading. The old-time preacher 
who wrote in the margin of his sermons the notes, "Cry 
here" and " Solemn voice here," could hardly have touched 
his hearers. Professor Cumnock once told with great disgust 
how after he had read a selection that brought the tears to 
his eyes, a hearer, a theological student, came to him and 
said, " Mr. Cumnock, won't you please tell me how you 
make yourself cry ? " 

It is only the affected reader who tries to put into the reading, 
emotions that he does not feel. It is really a good thing that 
our healthy school boys refuse even to attempt to indicate 
emotion that they do not and cannot possibly feel. 

The teacher should not talk about Orotund and Aspirate 
Qualities, etc. She should select a text which appeals to 
emotions the children have felt. What boy can feel the 
words of the middle-aged man! 

Blessings on thee, little man, 
Barefoot boy with cheek of tan ! 
****** 
From my heart I give thee joy, — 
I was once a barefoot boy. 



QUALITY 45 



Many things the children have in their own experience, many- 
things they can imagine. Select passages having these things; 
patriotism, love of nature, self-sacrifice, enthusiasm, curiosity, 
wonder, excitement, all of these can be used to affect the quality 
of the voice. Make them see the pictures of the scenes. 
Read them yourself. Emotion is catching. 

Before allowing pupils to begin the reading of an emotion- 
al selection, see that they catch the atmosphere of the selec- 
tion. By atmosphere we mean the general spirit of the selection. 
For example, before reading Tennyson's " Crossing the Bar," 
call to the pupil's attention the fact that when Tennyson 
wrote this poem he was eighty years old. He expected death 
at any time. He was looking straight into the future, and he 
was calmly resigned to meet whatever might come. 

Tennyson's " The Knights' Chorus " shows a different 
atmosphere. Call attention to the fact that Arthur is victorious, 
his kingdom is established, the king 's glory is being celebrated 
in the song of the Knights: — 

Blow trumpet, for the world is white with May; 
Blow trumpet, the long night hath rolled away! 
Blow thro' the living world — "Let the King reign!" 

The following examples illustrate atmosphere: — 

Haste thee, Nymph, and bring with thee 
Jest, and youthful Jollity, 
Quips, and cracks, and wanton wiles, 
Nods, and becks, and wreathed smiles, 
Such as hang on Hebe's cheek, 
And love to live in dimple sleek; 
Sport, that wrinkled Care derides, 
And Laughter holding both his sides. 
Come, and trip it, as you go, 
On the light, fantastic toe; 
And in thy right hand lead with thee 
The mountain nymph, sweet Liberty; 



46 ESSENTIALS OF READING 

And if I give thee honour due, 

Mirth, admit me of thy crew, 

To live with her, and live with thee, 

In unreproved pleasures free. 

Milton. 
The curfew tolls the knell of parting day, 

The lowing herd winds slowly o'er the lea, 
The plowman homeward plods his weary way, 

And leaves the world to darkness, and to me. 
Now fades the glimmering landscape on the sight, 

And all the air a solemn stillness holds, 
Save where the beetle wheels his droning flight 

And drowsy tinklings lull the distant folds. 
Save that from yonder ivy-mantled tower 

The moping owl does to the moon complain 
Of such as, wandering near her secret bower, 

Molest her ancient, solitary reign. 
Beneath these rugged elms, that yew tree's shade, 

Where heaves the turf in many a mould 'ring heap, 
Each in his narrow cell forever laid, 

The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep. 

Gray. 

OUTLINE OF CHAPTER V 

QUALITY 
Function of quality. 
Different qualities. 

Bright, ringing. 

Dark, sombre. 

Normal. 

Orotund. 

Guttural. 

Aspirate. 
Other qualities. 

Necessity of reader's feeling the emotion. 
Selecting text. 

Necessity of catching the atmosphere of the selection. 
What atmosphere is. 
Examples of atmosphere. 



QUALITY 47 



FOR REVIEW AND SUGGESTION 

i. What does the quality of the voice of a speaker or reader 
indicate ? 

2. To what extent is the quality of the voice under the control of 
the speaker or reader? 

3. How can a reader control the quality of the voice ? 

4. What are the qualities of the voice commonly named ? 

5. What does each indicate ? 

6. Through what means should a teacher strive to secure reading 
that portrays the emotions of a selection ? 

7. What kind of text is best suited to children who are trying to 
read with emotion ? 

8. What do we mean by the atmosphere of a selection? 

9. How can the atmosphere of a selection be secured ? 

10. What is the atmosphere of Poe's " Raven " ? Wallace's " Char- 
iot Race " ? Milton's "Sonnet on His Blindness" ? Lowell's "Cortin" ? 



PART II 
INTERPRETATIVE READING 



CHAPTER VI 
TYPES 

An author wishes to make vivid the way in which a man 
passed through a certain town. He does not make the man say 
that he walked watchfully, and quietly, and fearfully, and 
alertly. He makes him say, " I stole cat-focted through the 
town." Why not say " calf- footed ? " Because the author 
must select as the type that animal of all animals which has 
in the greatest degree the qualities of alertness and stealth. 

An author often omits the name of the feeling or charac- 
teristic or idea he wishes to express. In its place he uses 
the name of some object that represents in a very high 
degree that feeling or characteristic or idea. For in- 
stance in "He was a lion in the fight," "lion" is used to 
represent bravery and fierceness. Such an object is said 
to be a type of the feeling or characteristic or idea it 
represents. 

Longfellow wishes to picture the beauty of the dew-laden 
trees of Arcadia. He says: — 

Bright with the sheen of the dew each glittering tree of the forest, 
Flashed like the plane-tree the Persian adorned with mantles and 
jewels. 

Sir Walter Scott wishes to emphasize the fickleness of love. 
He selects as a type the flowing and ebbing of the tide in Solway. 

I long wooed your daughter, my suit you denied ; 
Love swells like the Solway, but ebbs like its tide. 

Macaulay wishes to show the greatness of the Etruscan army. 
He selects as his standard of comparison the ocean, an object 

5i 



52 ESSENTIALS OF READING 

that possesses in the highest degree the attributes of size and 
power. 

Meanwhile the Tuscan army, 

Right glorious to behold, 
Came flashing back the noonday light, 

Rank behind rank, like surges bright 
Of a broad sea of gold. 

The study of figures of speech is best taken up through 
types. Metaphor is that figure of speech in which one object 
is said to be another because of some type-quality discovered as 
common to both. One who has experienced the sense of pro- 
tection that comes from shelter behind a great rock in the des- 
ert at the time of a storm that threatened his safety, or who has 
escaped within the walls of a fortress when attacked by a band 
of enemies, has concrete examples of conditions that afford a 
high degree of protection. It is natural that such a one should 
lay hold of these familiar objects to represent his sense of 
protection when under the care of Jehovah, and should exclaim, 
" Thou art my rock and my fortress." He has in mind two 
distinct pictures, one of Jehovah and the other of a rock 
and a fortress. He declares Jehovah to be his rock and for- 
tress because his sense of protection under Jehovah's care is so 
great and so complete that in Jehovah he sees in the highest 
degree those qualities he had experienced in the inanimate 
forms. He takes Jehovah as his ideal of the quality he is trying 
to interpret. The protection afforded by the rock and the for- 
tress is subordinated to that given by Jehovah. This is meta- 
phor. If the writer had felt the sense of protection from 
Jehovah as less ideal in degree than that afforded by the physi- 
cal shelter, if his sense of satisfaction from some threatened 
danger had been realized more fully or at a later point of time 
in the case of the rock and the fortress, he would have said, 



TYPES 53 

"Thou art like a rock and a fortress to me." This would be 
simile. 

Simile is that figure of speech in which one object is said to 
be like another. As in the case of metaphor, the analogy is 
due to some type-quality common to both. Again there 
must be two pictures in the mind, but mere similarity is 
affirmed, not identity. " The Assyrian came down like the wolf 
on the fold. ' ' The reason the writer cast this in simile is be- 
cause to his mind the havoc wrought by the attack of the fierce 
wolf upon a defenceless flock of sheep represented to the 
highest degree the effect of that sudden descent of the Assyrians 
upon the unprepared and unsuspecting camp. It is difficult to 
conceive of more utter rout and disaster than happens to sheep 
under such circumstances, so that is taken as the type. 
The effect of the attack of the Assyrians is subordinated to 
it. Simile is used not because it is weaker, but because it best 
expresses the conditions of the scene. 

Allegory is that figure in which a literal expression is capable 
of figurative interpretation. To be pure allegory, it must be 
absolutely capable of either interpretation. It may be found in 
a word, a phrase, a clause, a sentence, a paragraph, or an en- 
tire book. It is commonly thought of in connection with the 
longer units, and is most important for elementary instruction 
in that form. Allegory resembles metaphor and simile in 
kind, but differs in degree. There is similarity as the basis. 
It is also an attempt to visualize some spiritual quality through 
a familiar literal form. It differs from the two other figures in 
the fact that but one picture is in consciousness at first. The 
literal must be so vivid that it holds all the attention for the 
moment. The interpretation must be in sub-consciousness, or 
must follow a moment later. 

" Pilgrim's Progress ' ' is the most famous type of extended 
allegory. Many of our best hymns are allegorical, though they 



S4 ESSENTIALS OF READING 

change their form, generally in an attempt to cause more com- 
plete interpretation of the feelings of the writer. " Rock of 
Ages, cleft for me, ' ' is mostly allegory. Parables are allegories 
that serve to teach some religious truth. Fables are allegories 
that are intended for ethical instruction. 

Figures change from one to another as best serves the writer's 
purpose. Teachers should make their own grasp of the sub- 
ject firm by working out many examples through all the de- 
grees of energy involved in each change so as to see to their own 
satisfaction that there is a reason for the form used. Good 
writers do not use figures merely as an embellishment, as is 
sometimes believed to be the case. If they are true to nature, 
they use the form that best carries their meaning. They may 
be over-imaginative, and their readers may fail to be moved as 
they were by the influence of the type-qualities portrayed. 
That is not the fault of the writer. It is the duty of the 
reader to try to put himself into a condition to be responsive 
in kind and in degree to the same feelings that moved the 
writer. It is the office of the teacher of reading to help pupils 
to retain that sensitiveness of imagination that is characteristic 
of youth. Almost every other subject of instruction is holding 
the pupil down to literal meanings. In reading the imagination 
can and should have full play. 

As a study in the change of forms, take the line, " Stonewall 
Jackson riding ahead." In the origin of the term " Stone- 
wall, ' ' some enthusiastic person might have been so energized 
by the picture of that firm soldier in the midst of the wavering 
raw recruits of that first battle, that he exclaimed, "The 
Stonewall stayed the advancing line. ' ' One who was familiar 
with the incidents of that battlefield would recognize this as the 
effort of a vivid imagination to express how that firmness seem- 
ed to the narrator and while having first the mental picture of 
a stone wall, would find that it shortly or almost immediately 



TYPES 55 

dissolved into that of the well-known general in advance of 
his wavering line, to whom his followers rallied to stop the 
movement of the oncoming charge. This would be sentence- 
allegory. Had the speaker recognized in Jackson the quality 
of firmness to such a degree that he was willing to take him for 
the moment as a type of firmness, to which all other instances 
of firmness might well be compared, he would have subordi- 
nated the same qualities as seen in a stone wall to those 
shown by Jackson, and would have said, " Jackson was the 
stone wall of the line at that crisis. ' ' Two pictures would 
then be in mind, one declared to be the same as the other, 
in some one respect. This is metaphor. 

If to the speaker the idea of firmness as shown by a stone 
wall, that cannot move, was the quality seen in the immobility 
of Jackson, who was held in his place by a sense of responsi- 
bility so strong that it took from him the power to move, even 
had he so desired, his attempt to represent that subordination 
of the human quality to that shown by the lifeless wall would 
take the form, "There stands Jackson like a stone wall." 
This is simile. 

To readers who are familiar enough with the setting to recog- 
nize any figure in the term "Stonewall Jackson,' ' it is a meta- 
phor as used in the poem. 

In considering an upright man, the psalmist exclaims, " He 
shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water. ' ' Simile is 
natural here, for it would require an extreme activity of imagin- 
ation to place a man in the genus of trees, drawing sustenance 
from the ground. This very element of constant and abun- 
dant nourishment is the quality recognized, but a tree is a 
better representative of the type, so the human is subordinated 
to it. 

When the hot winds sweep over the sandy plains, a tree that 
does not have its roots deep in an unfailing supply of water soon 



56 ESSENTI ALS OF READING 

gives evidence of the drain upon its vitality by its withered 
leaves. The external appearance shows the inward condition. 
So a man that is stricken by a blow that has deprived him of his 
courage, shows it soon externally. On the other hand, the 
man who can withstand adversity, calm and serene, sustained 
by a spiritual nourishment that gives him perennial vigor, so 
arouses the psalmist's enthusiasm that he accepts him as his 
type of that which has an abundant and unfailing source of 
nourishment. Under the unconscious influence of the simile 
just in mind, he boldly projects the one picture upon the other, 
accepts them as identical, and declares in the same sentence 
with the simile, "His leaf also shall not wither." This is 
clause-metaphor. 

Metonymy is that figure of speech in which one thing is 
named instead of another of which the first is a type. " He 
kept the table in a roar. ' ' The table is the prominent thing 
connected with a banquet. " He arose and addressed the 
chair." The " chair* ' is the sign of the office. " Gray hairs 
should be respected. ' ' " Gray hairs, ' ' the type of age. 

Synecdoche is that figure of speech in which one thing is 
named instead of another of which the first is a typical part. 
" A hundred sail are in the bay. ' ' The sail is a typical part of 
the ship. " She was a child of ten summers. ' ' The summer is 
a typical part of the year. " He employed ten hands. " The 
hands are the type for the whole men. Notice that in metony- 
my one thing is named for another, of which it is no part, but 
merely associated with it. In synecdoche the one thing is 
really the part of the other. 

Personification is that figure of speech in which inanimate 
things are given attributes of life. This is sometimes done by 
the use of adjectives; as, the howling wind. By means of verbs, 
inanimate things are represented as acting as if living beings; 
as, the wind howled. In combination with Apostrophe, the 



TYPES 57 

figure is used in direct address; as, " Come to the bridal cham- 
ber, Death!" 

Personification is metaphorical in its nature in the above illus- 
trations, inasmuch as two identical pictures are in mind. It 
can be allegorical, when the mind is primarily conscious of but 
one picture, which is that of some lifeless object endowed with 
life, or of an animal having human attributes. Fables and 
stories of the type of "Jack Frost" represent allegorical 
personification. 

Apostrophe is the direct address of the absent as if present, of 
the dead as if living, and of inanimate things as if living. It 
often includes personification, and can be either metaphorical 
or allegorical in its nature. 

" Thou hast taught me, Silent River, 
Many a lesson, deep and long. ' ' 

This is an apostrophe in which the river is metaphorically 
personified. 

" O Death, where is thy sting ? ' ' 

This is an apostrophe in which death is personified in a way 
that might be allegorical to one having a vivid imagination. 

It is the business of the teacher to cultivate in the 
pupil the power to recognize and feel type-qualities. 

These exercises are profitable: — 

i. Have the pupils explain given types. 

2. Have the pupils find and explain types. 

3. Have the pupils tell certain things by means of types. 

4. Have the pupils classify types according to the figures 
of speech. 



58 



ESSENTIALS OF READING 



EXERCISES 

PICK OUT, INTERPRET, AND CLASSIFY THE TYPES 

Silently one by one, in the infinite meadows of heaven, 
Blossomed the lovely stars, the forget-me-nots of the angels. 

Longfellow. 



Fair as the earliest beam of eastern light, 
Shine martial Faith, and Courtesy's bright star. 



Scott. 



"Dance, Marabout, " shouted the reckless warders, as much delighted 
at having a subject to tease as a child when he catches a butterfly, or a 
school-boy upon discovering a bird's nest. The Marabout, as if happy 
to do their behests, bounded from the earth, and spun his giddy round 
before them with singular agility, which when contrasted with his slight 
and wasted figure and diminutive appearance, made him resemble a 
withered leaf twirled round and around at the pleasure of the winter's 
breeze. 

Then the whining school-boy, with his satchel and shining morning 
face, creeping like snail unwillingly to school. And then the lover, sighing 
like furnace, with woeful ballad made to his mistress' eyebrows. 

Shakespeare. 

Once as I told in glee 
Tales of the stormy sea, 
Soft eyes did gaze on me, 
Burning, yet tender; 
And as the white stars shine 
On the dark Norway pine, 
On that dark heart of mine 
Fell their soft splendor. 

As with his wings aslant, 
Sails the fierce cormorant, 
Seeking some rocky haunt, 
With his prey laden, 
So toward the open main, 
Beating to sea again, 
Through the wild hurricane. 
Bore I the maiden. 



Longfellow. 



Thou, too, sail on, O Ship of State! 
Sail on, O Union, strong and great! 



Longfellow. 



TYPES 59 



"Hence is the inner life of so many suffering women 

Sunless and silent and deep, like subterranean rivers 

Running through caverns of darkness, with endless and profitless 

murmurs." 
Thereupon answered John Alden, the young man, the lover of women: 
"Heaven forbid it, Priscilla; and truly they seem to me always 
More like the beautiful rivers that watered the garden of Eden, 
More like the river Euphrates, through deserts of Havilah flowing, 
Filling the land with delight, and memories sweet of the garden!" 

Longfellow. 

Then her tears 
Broke forth a flood, as when the August cloud, 
Darkening beside the mountain, suddenly 
Melts into streams of rain. 

Bryant. 

So, on the bloody sand, Sohrab lay dead; 

And the great Rustum drew his horseman's cloak 

Down o'er his face, and sate by his dead son. 

As those black granite pillars, once high-rear'd 

By Jemshid in Persepolis, to bear 

His house, now 'mid their broken flights of steps 

Lie prone, enormous, down the mountain side — 

So in the sand lay Rustum by his son. 

Matthew Arnold. 

By and by 
The ruddy square of comfortable light, 
Far-blazing from the rear of Philip's house, 
Allured him, as the beacon blaze allures 
The bird of passage, till he madly strikes 
Against it, and beats out his weary life. 

Tennyson. 

In conclusion, let us notice one of the finest poems" in litera- 
ture, one built around a type. A beautiful thought came to the 
poet. He wished to give it to the world. He wished to give it 
in such a way that it would enter men's souls. He sought for a 
type. He found it in a little broken sea -shell cast at his feet by 
the waves. The tenant of the shell had built around himself 



60 ESSENTIALS OF READING 

his first small abode. Then he had added a larger room to his 
home, moved into it, and walled up the old room, now too small 
for his use. So the Nautilus, for that is the name of the little 
being, built its spiral shell in gradually increasing cham- 
bers until the end of its little life came, and it left its empty 
shell, its last abode unwalled and open. 

The poet devotes three stanzas to a description of his type; 
one stanza, the fourth, to the introduction of the truth of which 
the chambered Nautilus is a type; and one stanza, the last, to 
the thought itself. 

THE CHAMBERED NAUTILUS 

OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES 

This is the ship of pearl, which, poets feign, 
Sails the unshadowed main, — 
The venturous bark that flings 
On the sweet summer wind its purpled wings 
In gulfs enchanted, where the siren sings, 
And coral reefs lie bare, 
Where the cold sea-maids rise to sun their streaming hair. 

Its webs of living gauze no more unfurl; 
Wrecked is the ship of pearl! 
And every chambered cell, 
Where its dim dreaming life was wont to dwell, 
As the frail tenant shaped his growing shell, 
Before thee lies revealed, — 
Its irised ceiling rent, its sunless crypt unsealed! 

Year after year beheld the silent toil 

That spread his lustrous coil; 
Still, as the spiral grew, 
He left the past year's dwelling for the new 
Stole with soft step its shining archway through, 
Built up its idle door, 
Stretched in his last-found home, and knew the old no more. 

Thanks for the heavenly message brought by thee, 
Child of the wandering sea, 



TYPES 6 1 

Cast from her lap, forlorn! 
From thy dead lips a clearer note is born 
Than ever Triton blew from wreathed horn! 
While on my ear it rings, 
Through the deep caves of thought I hear a voice that sings: — 

Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul, 
As the swift seasons roll! 
Leave thy low- vaulted past! 
Let each new temple, nobler than the last, 
Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast, 
Till thou at length art free, 
Leaving thine outgrown shell by life's unresting sea! 



OUTLINE OF CHAPTER VI 
TYPES 

Function of types. 
Examples. 
Figures of speech. 

Metaphor. 

Simile. 

Allegory. 

Metonymy. 

Synecdoche. 

Personification. 

Apostrophe. 
Exercises. 

"The Chambered Nautilus." 

FOR REVIEW AND SUGGESTION 

i. What is a type? Why do authors use types ? 

2. What is a type of purity ? Of humility? Of vanity? 

3. Of what is the fox a type ? The goose? An oak? A reed? 

4. What is a metaphor ? How is it based on types ? 

5. How does simile differ from metaphor? 

6. What is an allegory ? Name some famous allegories- 

7. Is an allegory necessarily long ? How long? 

8. What figure in the parable of the Sower ? 



62 ESSENTIALS OF READING 

9. What is the purpose of a parable ? 

10. What figure in the fable of the Fox and the Grapes? 

11. What is the purpose of a fable ? 

12. In what respect are parables and fables similar ? How do they 
differ? 

13. What duty has the teacher toward the pupils in regard to figures ? 

14. When should classification of figures be taught? 

15. Explain metonymy. Synecdoche. 

16. What is personification ? Give an allegorical personification. 

17. What is apostrophe? Give an example of apostrophe not in- 
cluding personification. 

18. Give an example of apostrophe metaphorically personified. 

19. Explain the figures in " The Chambered Nautilus." 



CHAPTER VII 
EFFECTS 

He strode to Gauthier, in his throat 
Gave him the lie, then struck his mouth 
With one back-handed blow that wrote 
In blood men's verdict there. North, South, 
East, West, I looked. The lie was dead 
And damned, and truth stood up instead. 

The lines are from Robert Browning's " Count Gismond." 
The Countess Gismond is telling a friend of the circumstances 
under which she first met her husband, and of the events that 
led to their union. She has told how at a time when she, as 
queen of a tournament, was at the climax of pride and happi- 
ness, Count Gauthier had suddenly and publicly accused her of 
a shameful crime. Stunned by the horror of the accusation, 
she was speechless, until Count Gismond " Strode to Gauthier," 
etc. 

Let us see how much the author has told us in the well-chosen 
words of the brief scene. " Strode ' ' tells us of the fearlessness 
and indignation of Gismond. Gauthier had " stalked forth. ' ' 
" In his throat, ' ' no beating about the bush, no polite introduc- 
tion of the subject, but words clear and strong. " Struck his 
mouth," shows the degree of Gismond's anger. " With 
one back-handed blow," Gismond thoroughly despised this 
dastard, but even this sentiment was energetic, for his blow 
" wrote in blood." " North, South, East, West, I looked," 
the heroine, though innocent, had been beaten down by the 
mere accusation; now she feels herself cleared. 

So we find something of the story, and very much of the char- 
acters and moods of the actors, told us in few words. Let us 

63 



64 ESSENTIALS OF READING 

see how this is accomplished. Gismond was fearless in charac- 
ter and indignant in mood. A result of this character and this 
mood was the particular way in which he walked. The same 
character and mood caused Gismond to give the lie to Gauth- 
ier "in his throat.' ' The fact that Gismond despised and 
scorned Gauthier, had for its effect the " back-handed blow." 
The energy of the blow is shown by its effect, the drawing of 
blood. The regained assurance of the woman is shown in its 
effect in her looking " North, South, East, West. ' ' In fact all 
that we know of the characters and moods of these persons is 
told us by the effects caused by the characters and moods. 
The supreme source of strength in literature is the abil- 
ity to produce the greatest result by the fewest means. 
Authors do this by telling effects and allowing the im- 
agination and reason of the reader to construct the causes. 
The reader by the process of inference secures a much 
stronger idea than he could obtain from simple descriptive 
words. For example, Maclaren wishes to make vivid the ob- 
stinacy of the Scotch, and he says: " And they stood longest 
in the kirk yard when the north wind blew across a hundred 
miles of snow. ' ' Again he wishes to show how great was the 
grief of the old doctor when he could not save the life of Annie, 
the wife of Tammas, and he says merely this, " a' saw the Doc- 
tor shake in his saddle. " The doctor finally saves the life of 
Saunders after a terrible combat with the fever. The author 
wishes to tell us how the old doctor felt over the victory. Does 
he use the words happy and joyful ? Not he. He tells us how 
Drumsheugh followed the old man, crippled by accident and 
stiffened by exposure, as he went out into the fields after the 
great exertions of the night. Then the author tells us how the 
old doctor flung his coat west and his waist-coat east, as far as 
he could hurl them, how he struck Drumsheugh a mighty blow, 
and began to fling his limbs about in strange and weird contor- 



EFFECTS 65 

tions. " Then it dawns upon Drumsheugh that the doctor was 
attempting the Highland fling. ' ' From the physical effect of 
the doctor's joy, we know how great it must have been. 

Effects may be classified into effects of incident, effects 
of character, and effects of mood. Effects of incident are 
those from which the reader or hearer infers something which 
has happened or is happening or may happen, or some state or 
condition. Suppose that we are given this effect: " Two boys 
with blackened eyes and swollen noses slunk through the door 
and into their seats. ' ' We infer that there has been a personal 
encounter between the two young Americans. This is an effect 
of incident. 

Effects of character are those from which we infer some- 
thing concerning some person's character. This striking 
illustration appeared in an article in the Northwestern Monthly. 
" A minister shaved the hair above his forehead in such a way 
that his brow appeared higher.' ' What was the character of 
the minister? 

We find this bit of characterization in the " Bonnie Brier 
Bush." " He lifted up the soiled rose and put it in his coat; 
he released a butterfly caught in some mesh; he buried his face 
in fragrant honeysuckle. ' ' 

Effects of mood are those from which we infer something 
concerning the mental state of some person. We find a 
fine example in " Enoch Arden. ' ' Philip and Enoch both love 
Annie. Philip by chance comes upon Enoch and Annie just 
after they have declared their love. The grief of Philip is 
shown by a powerful effect: 

Philip looked; 
Then as their faces grew together, groaned, 
And slipt aside, and like a wounded life, 
Crept down into the hollows of the wood. 

It is by an effect that the actor in " Shore Acres " repre- 



66 ESSENTIALS OF READING 

senting the old farmer, shows the dislike and irritability of the 
old man towards his daughter's worthless suitor. The old man 
is represented sitting on a box in his barnyard. He is 
whittling. The shavings drop off slowly and methodically as 
the old man whistles softly to himself. The young man 
approaches. The farmer does not appear to see him, no words 
are spoken, but the whistle ceases, and the shavings drop 
faster and faster until they fairly fly from the knife. What is 
the mood of the old farmer ? 

Effects can be classified as effects of kind and effects of 
degree. The purpose of an effect of kind is to show what 
is the particular incident, mood, or trait of character. The lit- 
erature of child-life, especially for the earlier years, will be con- 
cerned more with this form. More advanced grades of litera- 
ture will not be satisfied with ideas of kind, but will be 
concerned in showing how great was the intensity of the idea 
involved. King Midas had been told that the golden touch 
would leave him if he bathed in the river at sunrise. He started 
at once for the river, though it was many hours before sunrise. 
We infer not only that he wished to'be released from this once 
desired power, but also how anxious he was for the change. 
When he runs with the pitcher to sprinkle water on the form of 
Mary, we infer not only his love, but what is more important, 
how great is that love. The spectacle of a king, accustomed to 
having every want attended by others, now running at utmost 
speed to relieve his daughter from her unfortunate condition, 
enables us to measure the degree of his feeling. The incident 
of the dog that tried to call his master's attention to the loss of 
his purse, and that crawled back to die beside it, after being shot 
by his master under the belief that he had gone mad, is told not 
so much to show that the dog was faithful, but because of ad- 
miration arising from the degree of faithfulness. 

Effects of degree can be used to include the effect of kind, or 



EFFECTS 67 



they can be given to increase the strength of an idea already 
given. " For a long time Mary looked longingly at the pies 
and cakes in the baker's window. ' ' This is an effect of kind. 
From it we infer that Mary was hungry. " When the baker 
held out the bun toward her, her claw-like fingers snatched 
it. In two bites, it was gone. ' ' This effect tells us nothing 
more about Mary's peculiar condition. It gives us an idea of 
the degree of her hunger, and is an effect of degree. 

All effects of degree are effects of kind, but the purpose of the 
effect is different. It is not a valuable exercise in elementary 
schools to have pupils classify effects into formal lists of kind 
and degree, but it is most helpful to have them conscious of the 
purpose of degree effects as they occur in a passage for the aid 
it gives in interpreting the meaning. It gives the author's point 
of view. 

It is the business of the teacher to train the pupil to de- 
tect effects and feel their power. No new power need be 
sought. A fair degree of reason is all that is needed. 
Children select their friends by inferring causes from effects. 
The employer selects his employee thus. Even a dog judges 
the sentiments of a person toward dogs, from effects. We all 
judge mood from the curve of the lip, the flush of the face, the 
wrinkling of the brow. 

These exercises are valuable: — 

1. Have the pupils draw inferences from given effects. 

2 . Have pupils find and interpret effects of a specified kind . 

3. Have pupils tell certain things by effects. 

4. Have pupils classify effects into effects of incident, 
mood and character. 

In all this work, the teacher should keep the direction of the 
work under her control, and see that the emphasis is given to 
the noble and the beautiful. If undirected, it is liable to degen- 
erate into unkindness and caricature. 



68 ESSENTIALS OF READING 

The following is given as a further illustration of effects and 
the method of work. It is intended for the use of the teacher. 
The use of dialect selections with pupils is not to be advised. 

THE CORTIN' 

James Russell Lowell. 
God makes sech nights, all white an' still 

Fur'z you. can look or listen, 
Moonshine an' snow on field an' hill 

All silence an' all glisten. 

What was the season ? 

What was the place ? (Effects of incident.) 

Zekle crep' up quite unbeknown 

An' peeked in thru' the winder, 
An' there sot Huldy all alone, 

'Ith no one nigh to hender. 

Who was Zekle ? (Effect of incident.) How did he feel ? 
(Effect of mood.) Does Huldy 's being alone tell you any- 
thing about the thoughtfulness of Huldy's family ? (Effects of 
character.) 

A fireplace filled the room's one side. 

With half a cord o' wood in — 
There warn't no stoves (tell comfort died) 

To bake ye to a puddin' . 
The wa'nut logs shot sparkles out 

Toward the pootiest, bless her, 
An' leetle flames danced all about 

The chiny on the dresser. 
Agin the chimbley crook-necks hung 

An' in amongst 'em rusted 
The old queen's-arm thet gran'ther Young 

Fetched back from Concord, busted. 

What adjectives would you use in describing this home? 
What kind of people lived there? (Effect of character.) 
What part of the country was this ? 



EFFECTS 69 

The very room, coz she was in, 

Seemed warm from floor to ceilin'; 
And she looked full ez rosy agin 

Ez the apples she was peelin'. 

What kind of a girl was she ? Does the following stanza do 
anything more than confirm your idea ? 

'Twas kin' o' kingdom come to look 

On sich a blessed cretur, 
A dog-rose blushin' to a brook 

Ain't modester nor sweeter. 

He was six foot o' man, A-i, 

Clear grit an human natur*; 
None couldn't quicker pitch a ton 

Nor dror a furrer straighter. 

What do the last two lines tell you about Zekle ? What do 
the next four tell you ? 

He'd sparked it with full twenty gals, 
He'd squired 'em, danced 'em, druv 'em, 

First this one, an' then thet, by spells — 
All is, he couldn't love 'em. 

But long o' her his veins 'ould run 

All crinkly like curled maple; 
The side she breshed felt full o' sun 

Ez a south slope in Ap'il. 

What was the trouble with Zekle ? What kind of an effect ? 

She thought no v'ice hed sech a swing 

Ez hisn in the choir; 
My! when he made Ole Hundred ring, 

She knowed the Lord was nigher. 

An' she'd blush scarlit, right in prayer, 

When her new meetin'-bunnet 
Felt somehow thru' its crown a pair 

O' blue eyes sot upun it. 






70 ESSENTIALS OF READING 

What was the trouble with Huldy ? What effects ? 

Thet night, I tell ye, she looked some! 

She seemed to've gut a new soul, 
For she felt sartin sure he'd come,. 

Down to her very shoe sole. 

What effects in these lines: 

She heered a foot, and knowed it tu, 

A-raspin' on the scraper 
All ways to once her feelin's flew 

Like sparks in burnt-up paper. 

He kin' o' litered on the mat 

Some doubtfle o' the sekle, 
His heart kep' goin' pity-pat, 

But hern went pity Zekle. 

What effects here? What kind of effects? 

An' yit she gin her cheer a jerk 

Ez though she wished him furder, 
An' on her apples kep' to work 

Parin' away like murder. 

Why did she act so ? Was it an effect of character ? What 
is Lowell's explanation? See four lines below. 

"You want to see my pa, I s'pose?" 

"Wal — no — I come dasignin' " — 
"To see my ma? She's sprinklin' clothes 

Agin tomorrer's inin'." 

To say why gals act so or so, 

Or don't, 'ould be presuming 
Mebby to mean YES an' say NO 

Comes nateral to women. 

He stood a spell on one foot fust, 

Then stood a spell on t'other, 
An* on which one he felt the wust 

He couldn't ha' told ye nuther. 



EFFECTS 71 

What effects of mood ? 

Says he, "I'd better call agin;" 

Says she, "Think likely, Mister;" 
Thet last word pricked him like a pin, 

An' — wal, he up an' kist her. 

Does the last line throw any more light on Zekle's nature? 

When ma bimeby upon 'em slips, 

Huldy sot pale ez ashes, 
All kin' o' smily round the lips 

An' teary round the lashes. 

What kind of a mother had Huldy ? Notice "bimeby ' ' and 
remember that " There sot Huldy all alone.' ' What kind of 
a nature had Huldy ? Are the following lines necessary ? Do 
they not merely confirm the inference gained by these effects ? 

For she was jes' the quiet kind 

Whose naturs never vary, 
Like streams that keep a summer mind 

Snow-hid in Jenooary. 

The blood clost roun' her heart felt glued 

Too tight for all expressin'; 
Tell mother see how metters stood, 

An' gin 'em both her blessin*. 

Then her red come back like the tide 

Down to the Bay o' Fundy, 
An* all I know is they was cried 

In meetin' come nex' Sunday. 

The crying of the banns is an effect of incident. What do 
you infer from it? 

For further practice interpret and classify the effects in the 
following: — 



72 ESSENTIALS OF READING 



EXERCISES 

Suddenly Ichabod heard a groan, — his teeth chattered, and his knees 
smote against the saddle: it was but the rubbing of one huge bough 
upon another, as they were swayed about by the breeze. 

Irving. 

He only meant to walk up and down her street, so that she might 
see him from the window, and know that this splendid thing was he. 

Barrie. 
She answered not with railing words, 
But drew her apron o'er her face, 
And sobbing glided from the place. 

Whittier. 

He had the keenest eyes in Clanruadh and was a dead shot. Yet 
he never stalked a deer, never killed anything for mere sport. 

MacDonald. 
There is an old poor man, 
Who after me hath many a weary step 
Limped in pure love : till he be first sufficed, 
Oppressed with two weak evils, age and hunger, 
I will not touch a bit. 

Shakespeare. 

A yellow claw — the very same that had clawed together so much 
wealth — poked itself out of the coach-window, and dropt some copper 
coins upon the ground. 

Hawthorne. 

As the life boat returned from the wreck, the men on shore shouted 
themselves hoarse, the women laughed and cried. 

Anon. 

The old man read the notice, pulled down his hat over his eyes, drew 
his cloak closely up under his chin, and went quickly down the dune. 

Hugo. 
Some of the men began to lag behind, dragging their guns and limp- 
ing with bleeding feet. Other men with bloody bandages about their 
heads could be seen in the hurrying wagons. 

Anon. 

The two young Cratchits crammed spoons into their mouths lest they 
should shriek for goose before their turn came to be helped. 

Dickens. 



EFFECTS 73 



He parted in twain his single crust, 

He broke the ice on the streamlet's brink, 

And gave the leper to eat and drink. 

Lowell. 

He placed the guns together with a good supply of ammunition, 
under the loop-holes by which the enemy must advance. 

Anon. 

OUTLINE OF CHAPTER VII 

EFFECTS 
Function of effects. 

Examples. 
Classification of effects. 

Incident. 

Character. 

Mood. 

Kind. 

Degree. 
The duty of the teacher. 
Exercises. 

FOR REVIEW AND SUGGESTION 

i . What is the supreme source of strength in literature ? 

2 . What are effects ? 

3. Why is the name appropriate? 

4. How may effects be classified ? 

5 . How early in the grades is effect work profitable ? 

6. How does an effect of degree differ from an effect of kind ? 

7. Of what value is the classifying of effects as a school exercise? 

8. What is the duty of the teacher in regard to effects? 

9. How can a teacher tell when her duty is accomplished? 

10. How does effect work influence the child's liking for literature? 

1 1 . Give some exercises in effects ? 

12. Discuss the frequency of inferring effects in every day life. 

13. What kind of effects should not be studied? 

14. What authors are especially skillful in using effects? 

15. Can the use of effects be overdone ? 



PART III 
METHODS 






CHAPTER VIII 
PRIMARY READING 

Before discussing the method of teaching primary reading 
most effective for the average teacher, in the average school with 
the average equipment, it would be well to notice the principles 
on which the most common methods of teaching are based. 

The Alphabet Method is the oldest. It is the one naturally 
adopted by the untrained teacher. It rests upon the assump- 
tion that the unit of teaching reading should be the letter, 
that the progress should be from the part to the whole, that 
the operation of learning should be synthetic, the putting to- 
gether of letters to form words. According to this method the 
alphabet is taught first, then the letters of the alphabet are put 
together to form words. Under the older form the letters were 
put together to form anything that might happen to result. We 
find the first page of the old New England Primer, a primer 
built on the alphabet method, to have this literature for the chil- 
dren 's first reading lesson: 

ab eb ib ob ub 



ac 


ec 


1C 


oc 


uc 


ad 


ed 


id 


od 


ud 


af 


ef 


if 


of 


uf 


ag 


eg 


ig 


og 


ug 


al 


el 


il 


ol 


ul 


am 


em 


im 


om 


urn 


an 


en 


in 


on 


un 


ap 


ep 


ip 


op 


up 


ar 


er 


ir 


or 


ur 


as 


es 


is 


OS 


us 



77 



78 ESSENTIALS OF READING 

The alphabet method has proved less effective than other 
methods for a number of reasons. The letter is not the most 
convenient unit for teaching on account of the number of 
sounds in our language indicated by the same letter. This 
method does not make a direct connection between the word 
and the thing that the word means. This results in reading 
that is not thoughtful. Hugh Miller has given evidence of 
the fact that a child may learn to read, if such a process can be 
called reading, by this method, without finding that reading is 
merely " the art of finding stories in books. " 

The Phonic Methods. In the so-called phonic methods the 
unit adopted is not the letter, but the sound. This method also 
works from the part, the sound, to the whole, the word. It is 
synthetic in that it builds words out of sounds. Very many of 
the devices of the followers of this method prove of great value 
to primary teachers. One of these is the linking of the sounds 
of the letters to common sounds. Thus we may say that a is the 
sound that the lamb makes, p is the steamboat sound, f is the 
sound that the kittie makes; v is the sound of the June bug; 
w is the sound of the wind; h is the breath; d, the young 
pigeons; z, the bees; r, the dog's growl; th, the goose; th, the 
woolen mill; t, the watch; ch, the locomotive; i, the little 
pigs; and oo, the rooster. K is the fish-bone sound; sh is the 
sound that means hush; 6 means " Be careful; ' ' u is a hiccough; 
ow means a hurt; ugh is the sound you make when you see a 
worm. Some of the similarities are rather slight, but the de- 
vice is useful nevertheless. 

Another device to assist in remembering sounds is to make 
use of the names of pupils in the class. For instance, B is 
Bertha's sound, D is Dan's, F is Frank's, etc. The grouping of 
words according to combinations of sounds is also of much 
value. For instance: back, lack, smack, saGk,rack, Jack, all 
belong to the " ack ' ' family; hand, land, sand, grand, belong to 



PRIMARY READING 79 

the "and " family; while thank, frank, blank, and crank 
belong to the " ank " family. 

The presence of mechanical reading instead of thoughtful 
reading on the part of pupils taught by a purely phonic method 
is caused by the fact that this method sets up the sound between 
the word and the thing that the word represents. In a strictly 
phonic method the sound is taught first and the pupils learn 
words as made up of sounds. This seemingly trivial thing is 
fraught with serious consequences in the child's future work. 
In its proper place, phonic work becomes the back bone of pri- 
mary reading. 

The Word Method is based upon the assumption that the 
word is the proper unit in teaching primary reading. Words 
are presented and connected directly with the objects 
which they represent. In this respect the method is entirely cor- 
rect. However, the word method may be pursued too far in 
that more words and more words and more words may be pre- 
sented, until after a long time phonic work is commenced. 
The word method is essentially an analytic one. The words 
are analyzed into sounds or letters. This method contemplates 
the use of words in sentences from the very first. The founda- 
tion principles of this method are right; but it is very easy when 
using it to neglect some of the important things emphasized by 
other methods. 

The Sentence Method is based on the assumption that the 
proper unit is not the letter, nor the sound, nor the word, but the 
sentence. It is argued that all speech is in sentences, that even 
single words when spoken alone are sentences. For instance, 
the word " Drink " when spoken by a thirsty child, is really a 
sentence. Without entering into this dispute, it may be said 
that both the word and the sentence methods require the use of 
the sentence from the first, and that the word is the most effect- 
ive unit for teaching,whether ornot it may be the unit of language. 



80 ESSENTIALS OF READING 

An Eclectic Method. The method of teaching primary 
reading that seems most successful in the hands of the average 
teacher is an eclectic one. 

It is based upon the following principles : 

i. The most convenient unit in teaching primary reading is 
the word. 

2. Words should be grouped into related sentences as soon 
as possible. 

3. The connection between words and the things they 
mean should be immediate. 

4. The sounds, the sound symbols, the analysis of words 
into sounds, and the synthesis of sounds into words, should be 
taught as soon as possible without interfering in the immediate 
connection of words and the things that the words mean. 

5. There should be a large use of the child's love of action. 
Most children enter school with a comparatively large 

vocabulary. They are familiar with all the words in common 
use in the homes from which they have come and with those 
used among their friends and playmates outside. The problem 
of the teacher is to help the pupils, (1) to recognize through 
sight, words already familiar through sound; (2) to use the 
words so recognized as the means of receiving thoughts with the 
same ability already existing through speech; (3) to give these 
thoughts to others when desiring so to do; (4) to enlarge their 
vocabulary; and (5) to enrich the meaning of words, old and 
new, through association. While the approach is through 
words, yet words have no use in language except as elements in 
thoughts and emotions, and reading must not be allowed to de- 
generate into mere recognition of words. 

Desire to read. The teacher must first of all kindle in 
the child a desire to read. The task is an easy one. It may be 
done by reading half of an interesting story, breaking off in the 
middle of it, and then asking the little ones, " Wouldn't you 



PRIMARY READING 



like to be able to read the remainder of it yourselves ? ' ' The 
teacher may show the pupils a book with interesting pictures, 
and may suggest that those who can read can find out the 
story that the pictures illustrate. Children who can read and 
write can send letters to Santa Claus, and can read the replies. 
The ingenious teacher can find very many ways of creating the 
desire to learn to read. As a matter of fact, many, if not most, 
of our beginners come to school with the desire to learn to read 
already developed. 

Words. Our children now having the desire to learn to read, 
we will begin to satisfy them. Suppose that we wish to give 
them first the words " leaf " and "ball." We will hold up a 
leaf, a real leaf. They will recognize it, and give us its name. 
We turn, to the blackboard and draw a few crooked marks. 
They recognize the marks as a picture of a leaf. They know 
that these lines mean leaf. We now give them another way of 
indicating leaf by writing the word on the board. We write the 
word in various places, and in various sizes. They know the 
thing it indicates as soon as they see the marks. They think of 
the sound only incidentally. The image of a leaf arises in the 
mind as the eyes rest on the written word. In like manner we 
present the word " ball;" first the object, then the picture, fin- 
ally the word. They get the idea that both the picture and the 
word mean ball. Next week we will give them the word 
" run. ' ' Then we will drill on the three words. We call John 
to the floor. We write the word " leaf. ' ' John finds and holds 
up the leaf. We write "ball." John finds the ball. We 
write the word "run," or " John, run." John runs to his 
seat. The knowledge has been expressed. The teacher 
usually will find that John recognizes his own name as well as 
the names of his fellows. This fact aids the teacher in making 
sentences for drill. Write "John." John arises. Add the 
word " Run. ' ' John runs around the room and back to his seat. 



82 ESSENTIALS OF READING 

Our list of words to be taught must be carefully made. It 
should include these elements: 

i. Names of common objects that can be kept in the 
school room. 

2. Names of actions that can be performed in the school 
room. 

3. The first words from the primer that the class is to 
use. 

4. Parts of the body and parts of the room. 

5. Common expressions, such as "to," "the," 
" I see," " I have," etc., for use in sentences. 

These words should number from fifty to eighty. They 
should be used in sentences from the first week. Two months 
at least should pass before books are given out, and before any 
words are analyzed into sounds. During this time, spelling 
should not be taken up; though it is sometimes wise in rural 
schools to teach the alphabet slowly, not as an aid to reading, 
and not in connection with stock words, but merely as letters. 
It will not assist in learning to read, but it may make smoother 
relations between the school and the home. 

One effective word list is as follows, the object words from the 
reader being determined by the reader to be used: 

First list, 20 words; time, 4 weeks. 

Action words : — 

Run, hop, skip, bow, clap. 
Parts of the room: — 

Chair, door, window, floor. 
Parts of the body: — 

Hand. 
Extra expressions: — 

To, the, is, I see. 



PRIMARY READING 83 

Object words from the reader: — 
Leaf, flower, stem, bud, red, green, yellow. 

From another reader the words would be : — 
Baby, mama, doll, kitty, book, slate. 

From still another, they would be: — 
Ball, box, cup, apple, green, red, blue. 

Second list, 20 words; time, 2 weeks. 
Action words: — 

Walk, fly, look, touch, find, wave. 
Parts of the room: — 

Ceiling, floor. 
Parts of the body: — 

Face, feet, eyes. 
Extra expressions: — 

I can, I have, and. 
Object words from the reader, such as: — 

Seed, nut, brown, white, black. 

Third list, 20 words : time, 2 weeks. 

Action words: — 

Point, swing, eat, drink, sleep, cry. 
Parts of the body: — 

Right, left. 
Extra expressions: — 

See, sees, I like. 
From the reader: — 

Not, it, I am, has, do you, man, sun, tin, sand. 

These words are to be taught as words in sentences. 

They are not to be spelled, or analyzed into sounds, they are to 
be used in related sentences from the first, sentences like these: 
" Run. " " Run to the door. ' ' The words can be taught in any 
order. Do not teach all the action words together. Mix 



84 ESSENTIALS OF READING 

them up. Teach two words at a time. It has been found 
that children remember two words at a time with very little 
more difficulty than one at a time. It is the comparison that 
helps. All the words are to be in script. It will be found help- 
ful to write all new words on pieces of cardboard four inches 
wide, and long enough to accommodate the word. These 
cards can be used in building sentences by being arranged along 
the base of the blackboard, or can be exposed one at a time for 
drilling on the stock words, or can be used as copies for writing 
at the board or at the seat. From the first, the pupil should be 
required to write the words and simple sentences on the board. 
As an aid the teacher should call attention to her movements 
while she writes the word or the sentence several times, so the 
pupil will see the place of starting and the order of movement. 
It may be necessary to take hold of his hand and guide it while 
the first attempts are made. This writing, as in all the writing 
of the earlier years, should be large and free, so as to avoid 
cramped movements that result from writing too small letters. 
The same word or sentence should be written on paper at the 
seat, if not the first time writing is attempted, very soon after. 
It not only helps to fix the form, but it serves as busy work. 
Some occupation should fill all the time of the pupils. Trouble 
will be avoided for the future if the pupils from the first learn 
that school is a busy place. If the teacher cannot use all the 
children's time, she should fill full all that she can, and send 
them home or from the room to play the rest of the time. 

As reading is the foundation subject of instruction in the 
primary grades, the first forms of busy work must be 
planned with relation to that study. An excellent plan is to 
have as many sets of new words as there are members of the 
class, to be written on small slips and given out at the close of 
the recitation. These should be kept at the seats in pasteboard 
boxes, to be used in building the sentences used in the recitation, 



PRIMARY READING 85 

and left on the board for that purpose. They may also 
be used in building such review sentences as may be desired 
or as the teacher may suggest. This gives occupation that 
does not tire the pupils, and that can be used indefinitely, 
alone or in connection with copying one or more sentences. 

Little children cannot write long without harmful effects, but 
they will sort out words or letters and build sentences with pleas- 
ure and profit for a long time. After they are far enough ad- 
vanced to use letters, they should be given boxes of assorted let- 
ters to be used in building words and sentences. 

Phonics. We remember our fourth fact, " The sounds, the 
sound symbols, the analysis of words into sounds, and the 
synthesis of sounds into words should be taught as soon as 
possible without interfering in the immediate connection of 
words and the things that the words mean. ' ' We wish to put 
into the hands of the children as soon as possible that key to 
our language, phonics. If, however, we begin too soon to 
show how words are composed of sounds, we run the risk of 
setting up in the pupil's mind the sound between the word and 
the idea. At the end of two months of sentence reading, this 
danger should be past. We can now begin to pick out 
sounds in words. Some work can be done even earlier, if done 
at a different period from the reading. The sounds a, e, 0, 
u y e, d } I, n, p, t, should be taught during the first 
six weeks. 

Let it be understood that the work in phonics is to be 
at a different time and unconnected with the work in 
reading. In all sound teaching the children should first hear 
the sound correctly given by the teacher. This in itself calls 
for considerable knowledge on the part of the teacher. She 
should know how each sound is produced by the organs of 
speech, and she should be able to give each one correctly and 
distinctly. The pupils should then give the sound. It must 



86 ESSENTIALS OF READING 

be seen that each child gives it correctly. The next step is to 
have them compare this new sound with old ones, noticing the 
differences. The final exercise is distinguishing this new sound 
and sounds already known. The order of teaching a sound is, 
(i) giving the sound to the children; (2) having them give the 
sound; (3) having them compare the sound with other sounds; 
(4) having them pick out the sound from other sounds. A useful 
device is another pack of cards from four to six inches square. 
On each card is written large and plain one sound symbol. 
The teacher exposes these cards one at a time, the pupils giving 
the sound as the teacher exposes the card. New cards should 
be added as new sounds are added. The teacher can vary the 
exercise by calling on individual pupils for sounds, and the 
class for help in mistakes or delays. 

Analysis of words begins at the beginning of the third 
month. The child can be given the book, provided the book 
begins with script. He now knows some sixty words at sight, 
and some ten sound symbols. The teacher begins to let him 
discover that words are made up of sound symbols. He finds 
that "sing " is merely s and ing, that "light " is I and ight, 
etc. The teacher encourages him to pursue his investigation. 
All new words that are capable of being taught by sound are 
so taught. For instance, the word " might ' ' occurs for the first 
time. The teacher covers the m with her hand, and the pupils 
recognize an old friend in the ight part of the word. M is no 
less easily recognized. The teacher removes her hand entirely 
and the pupils put together the two old sounds. They now 
have a word added to their vocabulary, but they also have gain- 
ed some power in the control of phonics. The teacher should 
devote considerable time to this drill. Most of the sixty words 
already learned can now be analyzed. Many new words can 
also be given. Some words, however, like cough, Hiawatha, 
tongue, beautiful, must still be taught by the sight. Such words 



PRIMARY READING 87 

are those whose spelling does not indicate the sound of the word. 
Our language is so constituted that there will always be some 
words that the children must learn by sight. 

For some weeks the teacher continues the work as before, the 
children reading the script lessons in the book, the teacher giv- 
ing new sight and new phonic words, and new sound sym- 
bols. In about four weeks she can introduce the children to 
the printed letters. During this time they can be taught some 
fifteen or twenty new sounds. In case the reader that the 
teacher must give to the children has no script, the books should 
not be given out so soon. The transition from script to print is 
best made in blackboard work. This change is not really as 
difficult for the children as it is often supposed to be. It 
should be made gradually. In fact it can be made and the 
children hardly be conscious of it. As the teacher places the 
script work on the board, she can now and then put a word in 
print. The children will recognize the word, and will pass it 
with but slight hesitation. More and more words can be printed 
until the class are reading print almost without noticing it. 
This very effective device has been called the " primary slide. ' '• 
Another very useful device is the writing of the sentences 
twice, once in script, and once immediately below the script, 
in print. After the children are reading from the print of 
the reader, the work continues in all the elements as before. 
For all of the first and second year of school the teacher still 
gives more sounds, and drills constantly on the old sounds. 
More and more words are phonetic words as the pupils have 
a larger and larger stock of sound symbols. The teacher still 
continues the training of the children to separate words into 
sounds. 

Order of Sounds. In the arrangement of the order in 
which the sounds are to be given to the children, these prin- 
ciples should be observed : First, sounds that are the easiest 



88 ESSENTIALS OF HEADING 

should be given as early as possible; second, sounds that are 
most common should be given as early as possible; third, sound 
signs not found in the dictionaries should not be used; fourth, 
very common combinations of letters such as ight, old, eat, ail, 
should be treated as single sound symbols. 



COURSE IN PRIMARY READING 

FIRST PERIOD 

Characteristic. — Teaching sight words and sounds sepa- 
rately. 

Time. — Eight to ten weeks. 

Reading. — Sixty to a hundred words by sight. 

Phonetic Work. — Teaching the symbols, a, e, i, u,-e, d, 1, n, 
p,t. 

SECOND PERIOD 

Characteristic. — Introducing the book and teaching analysis 
of words into sounds. 

Time. — Four weeks. 

Reading. — From the reader, both sight and phonetic words. 

Phonetic Work. — Teaching the symbols o, un, Tc, Tp, k, Ick, 
r, b, bl, br, pi, f, ch, m, ing, ight, tr, s, ter, y; training pupils to 
recognize sounds in words, and to make words out of sounds 
whose symbols are known. 

THIRD PERIOD 

Characteristic. — Change from script to print. 
Time. — About four weeks. 

Reading. — From the reader, both sight and phonetic words. 
Phonetic Work. — Teach symbols dr, ck, &, e, 1, ly, less, 
ness, s. 

Continue the sound training. 



PRIMARY READING 89 

FOURTH PERIOD 

Characteristic. — Increasing proportion of phonetic words. 

Time. — The remainder of the first year of school. About 
five months. 

Reading. — From the readers. Many new phonetic words. 
Some new sight words. Much easy reading. 

Phonetic Work. — Much training in sounds. Much drill on 
old and new phonetic words. Sound symbols a, a, cl, cr, C, g, 
gl, gr, g, j, h, sh, ish, th, v, 60 , 06, ph, ful, 6, ou, o, o, ow, u, u, 
w, wh, y, and a and e italicised. 

This course leaves for the work of the second year the re- 
maining sounds, including .a, a, a, ar, ar, e, e, er, ear, gh, 1, i,Tr, 
n, 6, 6,6r, oi, oy, q, qu, u, u,ut, x,x, z. 

The sound training should be continued in the second year. 
Indeed all through the eight grades there should be constant 
work with sounds and the diacritical marks. 

DRAMATIZATION 
An appeal to dramatic instinct leads children to a freer 
use of the imagination. The formality of the school room 
tends to repress that natural activity of the imagination 
that is so characteristic of children at play. While there must 
be a certain amount of restraint in an organization, there should 
be a counteracting influence at times in connection with read- 
ing, especially in the primary classes, or the pupil will lose the 
spirit in the exactions of the effort to secure the form. There 
are many selections where a part or all of the story can be easily 
dramatized and given in dialogue. Generally this will follow 
the study of the exercise in the regular way. Sometimes the 
change can be introduced for a part of the time in the regular 
development of the lesson, when the pupils are having difficulty 
in expressing the meaning because they do not have the point of 
view. 



9 o ESSENTIALS OF READING 

The children enjoy acting parts. Especially is this true 
when it includes the novelty of representing animals and inani- 
mate objects that are endowed with the power of speech. Let 
one pupil represent the cat, and another the girl, and clear- 
ness of meaning with the attendant naturalness of expression 
will follow from this simple dialogue: 

Girl. Pussy-cat, pussy-cat, 

Where have you been ? 
Cat. I've been to London 

To look at the queen. 
Girl. Pussy-cat, pussy-cat, 

What did you there ? 
Cat. I frightened a little mouse . 

Under the chair. 

LITTLE BOY BLUE 
To dramatize " Little Boy Blue, ' y have a pupil lie down 
and go to sleep on a recitation seat. It does not require many 
stage accessories to satisfy little children. Then two pupils 
enter, searching for some one. 

First. Little boy blue, come blow your horn, 

The sheep's in the meadow, the cow's in the corn. 

Second. Where's the boy that looks after the sheep ? 

First. (pointing to him). He's under the haycock, fast asleep. 

Second. Will you wake him ? 

First. No, not I — 

For if I do, he'll be sure to cry. 

This arrangement is better than the prose paraphrase 
sometimes used as it preserves the literary form of the original. 

LADY MOON 
Child. Lady Moon, Lady Moon, where are you roving? 
Moon. Over the sea. 

Child. Lady Moon, Lady Moon, whom are you loving? 
Moon. All that love me. 



PRIMARY READING 



91 



Child. 



Moon. 



Child. 
Moon. 
Child. 
Moon. 



Are you not tired with rolling and never 

Resting to sleep ? 
Why look so pale and so sad, as forever 

Wishing to weep ? 
Ask me not this, little child, if you love me; 

. You are too bold. 
I must obey my dear Father above me, 

And do as I'm told. 
Lady Moon, Lady Moon, where are you roving ? 
Over the sea. 

Lady Moon, Lady Moon, whom are you loving? 
All that love me. 



THE FLOWER GIRL 
Boy. Little girl, little girl, where have you been ? 

Girl. Gathering roses to give to the Queen. 

Boy. Little girl, little girl, what gave she you? 

Girl. She gave me a diamond as big as my shoe. 

THE MILK-MAID 
Boy. Little maid, pretty maid, whither goest thou ? 

Girl. Down in the forest to milk my cow. 

Boy. Shall I go with you? 

Girl. No, not now, 

When I send for thee, then come thou. 

WILLY BOY 
Girl. Willy boy, Willy boy, where are you going? 

I will go with you, if that I may. 
Boy. I'm going to the meadow to see them a-mowing, 

I'm going to help them to make the hay. 



THE NEIGHBORS 
First. What's the news of the day, 

Good neighbor, I pray? 
Second. They say the balloon 

Is gone up to the moon. 



9 2 



ESSENTIALS OF READING 



Sometimes poems can be used with slight changes that 
do not destroy the form. "The Three Kittens" is one of 
this type. 

THE THREE KITTENS 
Kittens {crying). 

O mother dear 

We very much fear 

Our mittens we have lost. 
Mother. What, lost your mittens! 

You naughty kittens! 

Then you shall have no pie. 
Kittens. Mee-ow, mee-ow, mee-ow. 
Mother. No, you shall have no pie. 
Kittens. Mee-ow, mee-ow, mee-ow. 
Kittens. O mother dear, 

See here, see here. 

Our mittens we have found. 
Mother. Oh, found your mittens 

You darling kittens, 

Then you may have some pie. 
Kittens. Purr-r, purr-r, purr-r, 

Oh, let us have some pie. 

Purr-r, purr-r, purr-r. 
Kittens. O mother dear, 

We greatly fear 

Our mittens we have soiled. 
Mother. What, soiled your mittens! 

You naughty kittens! 

To wash them you must try. 
Kittens. Mee-ow, mee-ow, mee-ow. 
Mother. Yes, to wash them you must try. 
Kittens. Mee-ow, mee-ow, mee-ow. 
Kittens. O mother dear, 

Do you not hear, 

Our mittens we have washed. 
Mother. Ah, washed your mittens! 

You are good kittens. 

But I smell a rat close by! 



PRIMARY READING 93 

Kittens. Hush, hush! mee-ow, mee-ow! 
We smell a rat close by. 
Mee-ow, mee-ow, mee-ow. 



BLACK SHEEP 
Boy. Bah, bah, black sheep, 

Have you any wool ? 
Sheep. Yes, sir; yes, sir; 

Three bags full: 

One for my master, 

And one for my dame, 

And one for the little boy 

Who lives in the lane. 

THE THREE CROWS 

1st. What do you think I saw this morn? 

2nd. I know, I know; it was some corn. 

15/. How many crows will go with me? 

2nd. Be quiet, friends, a man I see. 

1st. Caw, caw! Caw, caw, he has a gun! 

2,rd. Now let's be off; fly, every one. 

Often monologue is quite effective. There are many poems 
that can be used in this way. There must always be two or 
more acting, though but one speaks. 

Speaker. Mary, Mary, quite contrary, 

How does your garden grow ? 
With cockle-shells and silver bells 
And pretty maids all in a row. 

THE STORY 
I'll tell you a story 
About Jack a Nory, — 
And now my story's begun, 
I'll tell you another 
About his brother, — 
And now my story is done. 



94 ESSENTIALS OF READING 

THE BEGGARS 

Hark, hark, 

The dogs do bark, 

The beggars are coming to town; 
Some in tags, 
Some in rags, 

And some in velvet gowns. 

No change should be made that alters materially the 
form of a poem. The form is an inseparable part of the poem. 
The rhythm and the rhyme are as important elements as are the 
words. The presentation of the characters of the Mother Goose 
melodies in prose dialogue is neither pleasing nor edifying. 
They should not be spoiled in this manner. 

Monologue poems of length can be assigned to several 
pupils. Among those well adapted are "I Love Little Pussy," 
by Jane Taylor; " The North Wind doth Blow; ' ' " If I were 
a Sunbeam,' ' by Lucy Larcom; " Don't Kill the Birds," by 
Thomas Colesworthy; " The Fairies," by William Allingham; 
" Suppose, ' ' by Phoebe Cary. 

Prose can be adapted with more freedom. The form is 
not so closely associated with the meaning. Any change that 
preserves the spirit is proper. The story of "Little Red Hen ' ' 
is well suited to dramatic purposes. The characters are the 
Little Red Hen, the Mouse, the Pig, the Cat, and the Chicks. 

Scene i. 
Little Red Hen. Here is a grain of wheat. Who will plant it ? Will 

you, little mouse? 
Mouse. No, indeed, not I. 

Little Red Hen. Will you plant it, pig ? 
Pig. I will not. 

Little Red Hen. Will you plant it, cat? 
Cat. No, I will not. 

Little Red Hen. Well, I will plant it myself, then. 



PRIMARY READING 95 

Scene ii. 

Little Red Hen. My wheat is grown. Who will cut it? 

Mouse. Not I. I wish to play. 

Little Red Hen. Will you cut it, pig? 

Pig. I will not. 

Little Red Hen. Will you cut it, cat ? 

Cat. No, I am too sleepy. 

Little Red Hen. Well, I will cut it myself, then. 

Scene hi. 
(Develop the threshing similarly.) 

Scene iv. 
(Develop the grinding similarly.) 

Scene v. 
(Develop the baking similarly.) 

Scene vi. 
Little Red Hen. See my fine loaf of bread. Who will help me eat it? 
Mouse. I will. 

Pig. I will. 

Cat. I will. 

Little Red Hen. No, you will not. The chicks and I will eat it. 
Come, chick! chick! chick! 

Among other prose selections well adapted to dramatization 
are " The Three Goats and the Turnip Patch, " " The Boy and 
the Wolf," " Silver Locks," " Chicken Little," " The' Ant 
and the Grasshopper," " The Field Mouse and the Town 
Mouse. ' ' These are merely suggestive. The teacher will find 
an abundance of material for this purpose by studying the 
selections in the best primary readers. 



9 6 ESSENTIALS OF READING 



OUTLINE OF CHAPTER VIII 
PRIMARY READING 

Various methods. 

Alphabet method 

Phonic method. 

Word method. 

Sentence method. 
An Eclectic method. 

Principles. 
Words. 

The child's vocabulary. 

The desire to read. 

Teaching the first words. 

Word list. 

Using the words in sentences. 
Phonics. , 

Importance. 

Beginning of phonic work. 

Change from script to print. 

Order of sounds. 
Dramatizing. 

Advantage — clear understanding. 

Children enjoy acting a part. 

Examples for practice. 

FOR REVIEW AND SUGGESTION 
i . What are the principal methods of teaching primary reading ? 

2. What is the distinctive element of each? 

3. Why is the alphabet method the one naturally adopted by the 
untrained teacher ? 

4. What disadvantage does the method have ? 

5. Can children be taught to read by the alphabet method ? 

6. What advantages has a phonic method ? What disadvantages? 

7. What good points has a word method? What dangers? 

8. What is the source of disagreement between the word method and 
the sound method adherents ? 

9. Which do you think is right? 
10. What is an eclectic method? 



PRIMARY READING 97 

1 1 . What should be the foundation principles in teaching primary 
reading ? 

12. What proportion of children already desire to read when they 
enter school? 

13. How many words do children know when they enter school ? 

14. Do any of them know the alphabet? 

15. What else are they likely to know? 

16. Is it a good thing for parents to try to teach the children some- 
thing of reading before they start them to school ? 

17. Of what importance is a desire to read? 

18. How can it be created? 

19. Why is it not best to teach the children to spell or sound words at 
first? 

20. What should the first words be ? 

21. Why are many action words desirable? 

22. How many words can best be taught at once? Why? 

23. Why teach such expressions as " I have," " to the," etc? 

24. How early should books be given out? 

25. Should children be started with script or print? 

26. When should the other be introduced? 

27. How can the change be made? 

28. What differences should be made on account of the particular 
book the teacher expects to use ? 

29. When should writing be begun ? Spelling? 

30. How many times a day should beginners be heard in reading? 

31. When should phonic work begin? 

32. What should the first phonic work be? 

33. When can analysis of words into sounds begin ? Why not sooner ? 

34. Does it make any difference what sounds are taught first? 
Why? 

35 . How can the teacher make the old words help in teaching the new ? 

36. What kind of words should not be taught by sound? Why? 

37. What are the characteristics of the four periods of primary 
reading ? 

38. How many readers should the children read in the first year? 

39. What primary reader do you like best ? Why? 

40. Why have the children use the blackboard for the first writing ? 

41. How does the writing help the reading? 

42. Of what value is dramatizing selections? 

43. What cautions are to be observed? 



CHAPTER IX 

THE • DIVISION OF A READING RECITATION AND 
ASSIGNMENT OF THE LESSON 

Division of a reading recitation. The time allotted to 
the recitation in reading should be carefully apportioned to 
the different operations of a reading recitation. These oper- 
ations are four in number: ist. — The recitation proper, 
consisting of hearing the pupils read, questioning them on 
the thought, and interpreting what needs interpretation. 
2nd. — Drilling in articulation. 3rd. — The assignment of the 
new lesson. 4th. — Supplementary reading. 

The time apportioned to each operation. No universal 
division of time can be recommended. At one time a teacher 
may find it necessary to give more than usual attention to 
exercise in articulation. At another time she may find it best 
to devote an unusually long time to questions on the thought, 
thereby shortening the time for drill in articulation. Again, 
a teacher may find the lesson she expects to assign contains 
such a number of new words and strange ideas that she must 
take half of the recitation period to make the assignment. 
It may be that the lesson to be assigned contains no new 
word or ideas. Then the amount of time necessary for this 
operation becomes zero. Under average conditions a thirty 
minute reading recitation should be divided into about 
seventeen minutes for oral reading, questioning, and inter- 
preting, three minutes for exercise in articulation, five minutes 
for the assignment of the new lesson, and five minutes for 
supplementary reading. Very often this last time can be 

98 



ASSIGNMENT OF LESSON 99 

saved by having this reading done in the period of some other 
class, or in the opening exercises. 

The assignment of the reading lesson. It is economy of 
time to make a careful assignment of the new lesson. A 
minute at this operation may save misunderstandings that 
would require many minutes to detect and clear up. Four 
things must be considered in assigning a reading lesson: 
first, the selection of the lesson; second, the length of the 
lesson; third, the development of the new words and ideas; 
fourth, the exposition of the work to be done by the pupils 
in the process of preparation. 

The selection of a lesson. The teacher should select the 
lesson before she comes to her class. She should bear in 
mind that the lesson should be of a nature suited: first, to 
the class; and, second, to the purpose of the teacher. It 
should be of such a nature as to be likely to interest the pupils. 
It should be of such difficulty as will test their power, but 
not over-tax it. 

The purpose of the teacher* The teacher may see that 
her pupils lack facility in the reading of material in which 
there are no new words. She should select lessons of this 
nature until the pupils gain the desired facility. Then her 
purpose may change. She may wish them to increase their 
vocabulary. The lesson selected will then contain many 
new words. It may be that she finds the pupils unable to 
read verse well. She consequently assigns those lessons 
which are in verse. She may find her pupils much inter- 
ested in some poem by Longfellow. It would be well for her 
to assign another lesson from the same author. If she wishes 
to familiarize the class with types and effects, she must 
assign lessons suitable for that work. If she wishes to cul- 
tivate the power of gleaning thought by silent reading, she 
should select lessons of more than ordinary difficulty, and 



ioo ESSENTIALS OF READING 

should devote the recitation period to questions on the thought. 
Let her realize that order in the book is a consideration not to 
be compared with the reasons mentioned above. 

The length of the lesson. This also must be suited to 
the pupils, and to the purpose of the teacher. It may vary 
from a few lines in work in types or effects, to pages in gain- 
ing facility in recognizing old words. It must always be 
the subject of careful judgment. 

The development of new words and ideas. A certain 
lovable and scholarly professor of Greek in a large college 
held to the opinion that he could judge a student's knowledge 
of a page of Thucydides by the way the student pronounced 
the text. His classes could have given him much information 
as to the fallacy of his belief, had it been to their advantage 
to speak. A small boy may pronounce very glibly words and 
sentences whose meaning to him is not at all what it is to the 
teacher. A schoolboy insisted that a dirty tramp ran out 
from under the bridge and caught Ichabod Crane by the 
ear. He cited as proof the exact words of Irving, "Just at 
this moment a plashy tramp caught the sensitive ear of 
Ichabod." Another original thinker spoke of Annie Laurie's 
donkey, and when questioned as to his sources of information 
concerning the beast, triumphantly pointed to "Maxwel- 
ton's braes are bonnie." The boy would doubtless have 
read the line with good expression, but with a mental picture 
somewhat different from that of the teacher. The mistake 
would not have occurred had the teacher in assigning the 
lesson spoken of the meaning of the word " braes." 

The dictionary will not do the work of the teacher. 
Nevertheless the dictionary is very helpful. Each child 
above the fourth grade should be supplied with one, and 
should be trained to use it. The dictionary, however, gives 
the mere skeleton of a meaning. The teacher must make the 



ASSIGNMENT OF LESSON 101 

new idea live in the mind of the pupil. A certain common 
school dictionary defines lobster as "an edible marine crus- 
tacean." What an assistance to a ten-year-old boy! 

The teacher must see to it that the pupils have the 
ideas necessary to enable them to understand the new- 
lesson. If possible, she should show them a lobster. If 
that is impossible, then a picture of a lobster, speaking of 
its color, appearance, and use. It is not necessary to make 
a detailed study of the thing, inquiring into its anatomy, 
habits of life, methods of catching it, etc. Such a study 
would be interesting, and possibly profitable, for nature study 
or for the purposes of composition work; but not much read- 
ing could be done if every object mentioned were studied in 
such a fashion. The important thing is that the child have 
a correct, though maybe not detailed, conception of the objects 
mentioned in the new lesson. It is a good plan to review the 
new and difficult words at the opening of the recitation of 
the lesson. 

An example. In the lesson "The Lark and the Farmer " 
(Chapter Three), the teacher will find it necessary to explain 
these words and probably others: Lark, field, neighbors, 
frightened, reapers, hurry, kinsfolk, harvest, notice, whet, 
scythes. It would be well to show the children a scythe, or 
a picture of a scythe, and to call up to their recollection 
some larks' nest. In " The Village Blacksmith " (Chapter Two) , 
the teacher must see that the children have ideas of these: 
Spreading chestnut tree, sinewy, brawny, crisp, tan, bellows, 
sledge, sexton, village, forge, smithy, threshing floor, choir, 
anvil, repose. 

Many words do more than designate certain objects, 
attributes, or actions. These words not only express the 
ideas that they are expected to convey, but they also excite 
the feelings to greater or less degree. Each of the words 



102 ESSENTIALS OF READING 

storm, ocean, tornado, mouse, causes in the mind of the hearer 
a slight degree of the same emotion that would be caused 
by the presence of the object itself. If the hearer has seen 
the object, the effect is of course much greater than other- 
wise. The scenes in his experience rise again in his mind. 
The emotional effect of the word is great in just the propor- 
tion in which the memory of his experience is vivid. If the 
word indicates something not in one's experience, it may 
still rouse the emotion through the imagination. Such a 
word to most people is the word Arctic. The word sets up 
in the mind a mental image of the frozen North, and a feel- 
ing of fear and dread is aroused. One who does not have 
this feeling cannot appreciate Whittier's lines, 
The wolf beneath the Arctic moon, 
Has listened to that startling rune. 
Our work in reading fails of one great end if it does not 
help our pupils to understand and to appreciate literature. 
It therefore becomes the duty of the teacher to increase the 
emotional value of words to pupils. 

In assigning a lesson the teacher should so use the 
child's experience and imagination as to enable the 
poetic words and phrases to touch his emotions. She 
should cause the pupil to tell the experiences that the word 
brings into his mind, when it was, where it was, etc. Such 
an operation increases the facility of the action of the word 
on the feelings, the very end we desire to gain. This exer- 
cise should not be confined to the assignment of the lesson. 
It should be part of the assigned work. It should continue 
until all such words and phrases as misty light, sea, sea of dew, 
flaming forge, measured beat, dove, sting, Venice, touch the 
emotional nature of the child. 

Assigned work. The assignment of the lesson is of 
course incomplete unless specific directions are given to the 



ASSIGNMENT OF LESSON 103 

pupils as to the work to be done in preparation for the next 
recitation. One reason why we have not had the results in 
reading that we have had in other branches is that the assign- 
ment of work has not been so definite. A pupil knows when 
he has prepared his arithmetic lesson, and he does not hope 
to conceal his failure when he has not prepared it. 

The assignment in reading, "Take the next two pages, and 
study them carefully," is likely to get the scanty considera- 
tion that it deserves. The assignment should be in the form 
of detailed directions telling what to do, or questions to be 
answered either orally or in writing. The questions may 
be about words, meanings, types, effects, or any other sub- 
ject connected with the selection. The directions may include 
the looking up of meanings, the making of lists of words; 
for instance, a list containing all the words in the lesson that 
recall agreeable experiences, a list of all the words that are 
hard to spell, or a list of all the words whose meaning is not 
clear to the pupil. It is usually found best to put the assign- 
ment on the blackboard. 

Model assignment for "The Lark and the Farmer." 
Where did the Lark build the nest? How many young 
Larks were there? In what danger were they? What 
time of the year was this? How did the Mother Lark feel 
as she flew away? Why was not the old Lark frightened 
on the first two days ? What kind of a man was the farmer ? 
Make a list of words hard to spell. 

Model assignment for "The Village Blacksmith." Read 
it through three times. What is a smithy? A bellows? An 
anvil? Did you ever see a flaming forge? When? What 
tree does " spreading chestnut tree" make you think of? 
What kind of a man was the blacksmith? Copy the first 
stanza and mark the groups. 

At least five minutes of each day should be spent in 



104 ESSENTIALS OF READING 

oral supplementary reading. The children should also 
be supplied with an abundance of interesting easy read- 
ing for silent reading. In most schools this work is limited 
by financial conditions. The oral supplementary reading, 
however, requires but little expense. Two or three books, 
a current events paper, or the Sunday school papers are all 
that is absolutely necessary. But one book or paper of a kind 
is needed; indeed, it is better to have but one. The work is 
individual. The pupil is given the book a day or two in 
advance. He is told what selection or part of a selection 
he is to read. He studies it over, probably at home, usually 
with some help from parents or teacher. He knows that 
all depend on him for the understanding of the selection. 
He is put into the right mental attitude. (See Mental Atti- 
tude.) When the time comes, he walks to the front of the 
room, faces the pupils and reads. The use of the reading 
period alone limits this work to one or two pupils a day. 
The ! geography period can be used also in reading from 
such books as "Around the World," Carpenter's " Geo- 
graphical Readers," "The World and Its People," the 
"Youth's Companion Series of Geographical Readings." 
The same thing can be done in the history class. This 
reading, instead of injuring the work in geography and 
history, actually strengthens it. The opening exercises can 
include some reading, possibly in the nature of current events 
or nature study. 

The pupils of a room can be divided into groups for 
the purpose of giving greater opportunity for individual 
oral reading. Two or three times a week twenty or thirty 
minutes can be taken. At the signal the pupils gather in 
groups in the assigned parts of the room. Let us describe 
such an exercise. Group A, in the northeast corner of the 
room, are seated on the recitation seat and two of the front 



ASSIGNMENT OF LESSON 105 

seats. There are ten pupils in this group. To-day five of 
them will read about five minutes each from Gould's "Mother 
Nature's Children." In the northwest corner by the organ 
are gathered eight children. They are reading "Five Little 
Peppers." They are interested. The hum of the other 
groups disturbs them not at all. The teacher passing from 
one group to another as she sees fit, does not find it necessary 
to withdraw any child from this group on account of mis- 
behavior. That group just back of the center of the room, 
the pupils sitting two in a seat, is reading Coffin's "Drum- 
beat of the Nation," while that group in the extreme rear of 
the room is reading "Viking Tales." By such a plan, each 
pupil receives four times as much practice in oral reading 
as he otherwise would receive. Just a caution or two. The 
books or selections must be interesting and easy. The 
periods must be frequent enough to maintain interest. The 
teacher must watch order carefully, persistently, and unob- 
trusively. 

An alternating program can be used with advantage. 
Let one day of the week be set apart for the regular reading 
exercises, using the standard material of the grade. One 
day can be used for sight reading, the study time to be spent 
in composition, or drawing, or both, as suggested in the 
chapter on the Classification of Material. One day can be 
used for the study of difficult material, with class discussion 
of the contents and meaning, and with the oral reading of 
such passages as may seem best. One day can be used for 
individual reading, when two or more pupils read lessons 
which they alone have studied, or when they recite memo- 
rized selections or tell stories. One day can be used for 
the study of longer selections of minor value, to be given in 
substance only. This program affords variety and brings to 
the pupils in turn each motive that can be used to increase 



106 ESSENTIALS OF REAEING 

the interest or stimulate the effort in reading, both silent 
and oral. 

OUTLINE OF CHAPTER IX 

DIVISION OF A READING RECITATION AND 
ASSIGNMENT OF LESSON 
Division. 

Time apportioned to each division. 
Selection of lesson. 

Suited to purpose of teacher. 

Suited to pupils. 
Length of lesson. 

Suited to purpose and pupils. * 

Development of new words and ideas. 

Value of the dictionary. 

The teacher's duty. 

Illustrative lesson. 
Word content. 

Emotional words. 

The teacher's duty. 
Assigned work. 

Model assignment. 

Time and character of the supplementary reading. 

Grouping pupils for oral supplementary reading. 

Alternating program. 

FOR REVIEW AND SUGGESTION 
i. What points should be covered in a recitation in reading? 

2. When should articulation drill be given? 

3. How much can we omit the testing to find out if the directions 
have been followed? 

4. What would be the result if this part of the recitation were 
habitually slighted ? 

5. Why not combine articulation drill and oral reading? 

6. How would you divide a twenty-minute recitation period? 

7. How can supplementary reading be done in other classes? 

8. Of what importance is the assignment of the lesson? 

9. What points should be covered in the assignment of the lesson? 



ASSIGNMENT OF LESSON 107 

10. What proportion of the children should be supplied with 
dictionaries? 

11. Can less than the right number be used to advantage ? How? 

12. What is the best dictionary for each grade? 

13. Can a pupil use a word correctly in a sentence and be ignorant of 
its meaning? 

14. Can a pupil give a correct definition of a word and still be 
ignorant of its meaning? 

15. What function in literature do words have beyond designating 
the actions, objects and attributes? 

16. What kind of words can be called experiential words? 

17. How can the child's responsiveness to emotional words be 
increased ? 

18. Of what value is supplementary reading? 

19. How many supplementary readers of the same kind should the 
teacher have? 

20. How can there be supplementary reading without supple- 
mentary readers? 

21. What is the element gained in supplementary reading that is 
missed in ordinary reading ? 



CHAPTER X 
CLASSIFICATION OF MATERIAL 

Most reading books contain four distinct kinds of 
material which should be separated and used by the 
teacher to serve the ends for which they are best 
adapted. Each is valuable in its place. All are necessary 
to a well-balanced course of instruction in reading. If they 
are not found in the texts used by the class, they should be 
supplied from other sources. The fault so often existing 
is due to the effort of the teacher to use all classes of material 
in the same way. 

The first class consists of the selections that are well 
suited to the pupils in degree of difficulty and that are 
intrinsically worthy to be studied thoroughly. These 
should constitute the greater part of the reading book and 
the presence of a good proportion of this class of material is 
the distinguishing mark of a good standard reader. 

In order to be suited in degree of difficulty, the subject-mat- 
ter should be within the understanding and experience 
of those who are to read it, and the language should be within 
or but slightly beyond the vocabulary of the class. This kind 
of material is primarily for oral reading, and it should not 
contain too many difficulties, otherwise it will lead to dis- 
couragement. There should be but few unfamiliar words, 
and these should be explained and pronounced before the 
recitation begins, or before the paragraph is read aloud, so 
that the pupil will be able to use them unconsciously in giving 
expression to the thought. The presence of a single formi- 
dable word in a sentence will draw to it the thought of the timid 

108 



CLASSIFICATION OF MATERIAL 109 

reader, and will conceal the meaning of the sentence. The 
pupil cannot consciously do two things at the same time. 
There will not be good oral reading unless the mechanical 
difficulties have been reduced to such a minimum that they 
do not come into consciousness. The pupil should be trained 
to know when the sentence is within his power, and should 
not attempt to read it until it is. He should ask questions 
and not attempt the pronunciation of unfamiliar words until he 
is sure of his grasp, and then should give the sentences with 
the expression of the thought as the end of his effort. A few 
sentences read in this way are of more value than many pages 
that have been merely pronounced. It is better still to have 
the selection so well suited to the ability of the class that a 
reasonable, amount of effort will enable the pupils to get the 
thought with ease and express it with accuracy. It will then 
be read with pleasure. Reading should be pleasurable. 
It will be generally, if the material is kept within the interest 
and the difficulties within the increasing power of the pupil. 
The taste can be regulated and the power can be increased 
but it can be done only by starting where the pupil is and by 
increasing the distance by so small intervals that there is no 
time a severing of the connection. 

To be intrinsically worthy of being studied thor- 
oughly, the subject matter should be such as will interest 
the class. It must be attractive. Without this element 
there will not be that spontaneous mental activity that is 
essential to the most valuable form of attention. It need 
not appeal to the adult mind, nor to more mature children, 
but it must attract the child who is to study it. It is a serious 
error to suppose that everything good and attractive will 
interest all ages and all conditions. Even more than adults, 
children demand something new and interesting. They 
insist upon a fair return. The effort will be made gladly 



no ESSENTIALS OF READING 

and, for a short time, intensely, provided they realize a product 
that repays in satisfaction or pleasure. But it is" not suffi- 
cient that the subject matter be attractive. The most inju- 
rious form of literature is that which has this sole merit. 
Reading matter which is to be studied carefully should be of 
a nature that will bring to the reader a positive growth mor- 
ally or intellectually. It should deal with the beautiful and 
the noble or with related facts that are of deep concern. The 
mind of the child should be caused to dwell upon the 
acts and lives of those who evince a beautiful spirit or a char- 
acter of worth. The opposites of these should be little in 
evidence in the reading matter of the young. When present, 
they should appear merely as a foil for the more valuable 
qualities. This does not mean that every trait of character 
must be labeled, and that the selection should close with the 
once familiar, "Haec fabula docet." 

Generally there will be the identification of the type of 
character, and the meaning of the story will sink into the 
consciousness of the pupil, if the selection has been well read. 
There should be, however, exercises that will enable the pupil 
to recognize the types of character readily when presented 
through language; and to identify those qualities that he 
recognizes unconsciously in the concrete. Also, there should 
be frequent attempts to give wording to the meaning of a 
selection as a whole. An important end of all education 
is character building, and there is no medium more favor- 
able for this than the subject of reading. It is through the 
reading-matter of the first and second classes, as suggested 
in this chapter, that most of this character training will be 
effected; so this should be the subject of the most serious 
consideration on the part of teachers and parents. 

The second class consists of the few selections that 
will bear reading again and again. They are the highest 



CLASSIFICATION OF MATERIAL in 

type of literature suited to the age and development of the 
pupil. They are the selections that grow upon the pupil 
with each hearing or perusal. The better they are known, 
the more they are enjoyed. They are the ones that pupils 
call for repeatedly when given a choice. They should be 
read as often as the interest will warrant. The pupils should 
be encouraged to tell them to the class as stories. They should 
be dramatized and presented in this form whenever they are 
suited to such treatment, thus causing them to enter the 
experience of the child through appeal to his dramatic in- 
stincts. After their meaning is well developed many of them, 
especially the poems, should be memorized as standards of 
literary form and as types expressing feelings and emotions 
common tp all. 

The third class of literature is that which should not 
have close study, but which will repay being read once 
for general information or because of some special feature 
of the selection. This corresponds to the great mass of reading 
matter that will come to the eye of the pupil throughout life 
and some intelligent direction in this connection is of the 
utmost value. Much time is wasted because pupils do not 
learn to discriminate in values, but give to unimportant mat- 
ters the same time and effort that is required for subjects of 
serious concern. It is as important that they learn how to 
obtain easily and quickly the substance of materials of minor 
value, as that they be able to master the contents of more 
worthy selections. The habits formed in school should be 
such as are valuable later in life. Pupils should learn to 
scan a page rapidly, obtaining a correct impression of the 
whole, at the same time having the ability to give discriminative 
attention to the important parts. Much material should be 
studied by giving the class a limited time to read a definite 
part of a selection, and then calling for a statement of what 



ii2 ESSENTIALS OF READING 

has been read. Pupils should be required to give the sub- 
stance of the passage, the use of the exact language not being 
encouraged. The class criticism should be directed to show- 
ing wherein the pupil has obtained quickly and stated briefly 
the substance, or wherein he has failed in the subordination 
of parts. The effort should be to reduce the time necessary 
for accomplishing the end. This power acquired in school 
will serve the pupils well by enabling them to become widely- 
read, well-informed men and women, keeping in touch with 
the press and with current literature without feeling it a bur- 
den, after reaching the busy years of active life. It will spare 
them the laborious word-by-word reading of matter of minor 
importance, and yet will make them sure that they have not 
failed to see all that is of real concern. 

Mr. Frank McMurry is authority for the statement that 
school children, even in the best schools, do not possess initia- 
tive in study. He conducted a series of experiments in the 
subject of geography. He found that the pupils seemed to 
lack a desire to go ahead for their own purposes and on their 
own responsibilities. They depend on the teacher. They 
refer to maps when told to do so, look up words when directed. 
When not directed to do anything, they do nothing. His 
conclusion is verified by the investigations of others. This 
condition is true in the subject of reading, also. We find 
pupils in their silent readings stumbling over a string of words, 
with no desire to discover the unperceived thought, and with 
little knowledge of how to discover it, should they so desire. 

It becomes the duty of the teacher to train the pupils how 
to study. Her opportunity to do this is at the recitation time. 
Hence some of these periods should be called study periods and 
should be given up to studying with the children with the hope 
that this study may increase their power to study alone. The 
good teacher is one who trains the pupils to do without her. 



CLASSIFICATION OF MATERIAL 113 

The books will be kept open, the teacher will have a para- 
graph read as a unit, then sentence by sentence. She will 
ask many questions; like, "Should we stop here for thought 
and discussion?" "Is this thought important?" "What 
is the principal thought in this paragraph?" "What is this 
paragraph about ? " "What do we know now that we did 
not know an hour ago?" "Are there any words here whose 
meanings are not clear to us?" She can go farther than this. 
She can have the pupils make outlines of the material studied. 
This is an exercise in deciding upon the relative importance of 
points. Two things in which the teacher should give training 
are: first, the grouping of related ideas; second, the judging 
of the comparative importance of different ideas. This results 
in the pupil having a definite notion of the state of his own 
knowledge. He makes a conscious judgment of his attain- 
ment. He knows when he has come to what Miss Arnold has 
called the "don't know line." He can say to himself, "I 
know this," "I understand that." He is impelled to say 
also to himself, "This next thing I do not understand. I will 
now devote myself to the mastery of it." Such a condition 
is most favorable to mental growth and thought glean- 
ing. This training can be done in what has been called the 
study-recitation. If followed up, it will increase in a remark- 
able degree the initiative and power of the pupils. 

The fourth class of material consists of that which is 
too difficult for ordinary class use. Often it contains 
mechanical difficulties that discourage the class. There may 
be too many new words. The presence of these is a barrier 
to the thought. Even when the thought is reached clearly, 
the fact that the words have not been pronounced often 
enough to be uttered unconsciously, causes the reader to hes- 
itate in giving the passage orally. The overcoming of the 
mechanical difficulties generally detracts from the pleasure 



ii 4 ESSENTIALS OF READING 

of the pupil's effort. Frequently the order of words and the 
arrangement of clauses are so involved that the pupils find 
it hard to understand the meaning. Sometimes there are 
allusions/ that are not familiar and that occur too seldom to 
repay investigation. The value of an allusion depends upon 
the immediateness with which it is discerned. Pupils take 
no more pleasure in tracing out an obscure allusion than do 
adult readers. They can be brought to do some work of this 
kind, but the instances must not be too frequent in a pas- 
sage, or lack of interest will follow. 

Again, there are selections that present experiences be- 
yond those 6f childhood, except in extreme, abnormal cases. 
Neither pleasure nor profit comes from considering these 
in advance of their time. All selections that are too diffi- 
cult, from whatever cause, should be used primarily for 
study and discussion, having the story told by different 
members of the class, calling for the reading of such parts 
as may seem best, as shown by the interest of the class or 
by the desire of individuals. In this way, pupils who are 
developed sufficiently to understand the selection will get 
the meaning, while the others will not be burdened with the 
attempt to realize that for which their stage of development 
has not as yet prepared them. 

Many readers contain much material of the class that is 
too difficult for the grade for which it is intended. It is 
valuable for silent reading, with discussions of the substance 
of the passages. With its use in that way will come the 
ability to use it for oral reading, also. But children are 
able to read silently with pleasure and with more or less 
profit much matter that they should not attempt to read 
orally. That which is to be read aloud, and much that is 
for silent reading, should be read with ease, if it is to be 
read with pleasure. Teachers can verify this assertion by 



CLASSIFICATION OF MATERIAL 115 

studying their own reading. Writers of the cheap, flashy 
literature that is the bane of boyhood know this principle, 
and have written their books on this basis. The words 
are familiar or are such as catch the attention and affect the 
imagination. The sentences are short, and run with remark- 
able clearness. The paragraphs are brief and are arranged 
to carry the eye from point to point of interest. The story 
almost reads itself. Add the element of the unreal and the 
glamour of adventure, and it is not strange that boys devour 
its pages. Teachers of reading could learn valuable lessons 
from studying the elements that appeal to the boy who is 
absorbed by cheap novels. It is possible to use the same 
conditions, supplying better ideals instead of the distorted 
heroism, and to change the boy's tastes to appreciate good 
literature. All good literature is not difficult. We must 
make more use of the simpler forms. The knowledge that 
many children "nose through" all grades of literature and 
that some of them receive much benefit from these unguided 
excursions has led to the false notion that all children should 
be required to take such material entire and has brought 
into our readers selections that cannot be used to advantage, 
except in the way last suggested. 

The fifth class, material for sight reading, is of great 
value. Most of the reading done outside of the school- 
room must be at sight, without time or opportunity for study. 
Especially is this true of the reading of later life. Accord- 
ingly pupils should be trained to read at sight. Sight read- 
ing also offers an excellent opportunity for adding to the 
interest of the work by the introduction of new and attrac- 
tive reading matter. The material for sight reading should 
be much easier than the standard material of the grade. 
From the nature of the use intended, it should not be found 
in the regular reading book of the class. It is of the utmost 



n6 ESSENTIALS OF READING 

importance that it be kept from the class until it is to be 
read, otherwise there is no way of preventing previous study 
by the pupil. Children eagerly devour everything in their 
books that looks at all easy or interesting. Much of the 
benefit from this kind of reading matter comes from the 
interest given to the class work by the element of curiosity 
that is added to the recitation. The new subject-matter 
secures and holds the attention. 

From one to three books are enough for a class in sight 
reading. If more than one book is used, one can be in the 
hands of the teacher, though it is better for the teacher to 
insist that the reading be so well done by the pupil that she 
will not need a book. The very fact that she has no book 
will enable her to judge the exercise as it should be judged, 
on the basis of effective oral expression. Sight reading can 
be given a few minutes of the time of each lesson, as sug- 
gested in the chapter on Conducting the Recitation, or it can 
take the place of the regular reading lesson one day in the 
week. The important thing is that it have a good propor- 
tion of time regularly, as it will repay well the time and effort 
given to it. If sight reading is to take the place of the regular 
lesson, the study period can be spent on a list of words on 
the board, selected from the lesson. This should include 
all that could give any trouble in recognition or meaning, 
and they should be made familiar by the advance study. 
They can be written in sentences, showing that their mean- 
ing is understood, and they should be pronounced from the 
board until the organs of speech become accustomed to 
them. 

The advance study can be varied by having the pupils 
write short stories, using as the title the subject of the 
coming lesson. The list of words should be on the board, as 
before, to be pronounced before the study period as well 



CLASSIFICATION OF MATERIAL 117 

as before the recitation. The pupils should be asked to use 
such of the words as suggest themselves in the development 
of a story of the given title. There should be no studied 
effort to use all the words, but they should be used just as 
they occur naturally in such a story as the pupil may invent 
in connection with the title and with the use of a few of the 
important words of the list. The fact that a story is about 
to be read from a book on the same subject and the novelty 
of trying to parallel an unknown plot will kindle the imagi- 
nation so as to make the exercise an excellent language 
lesson, and at the same time will arouse an interest in the 
coming reading lesson. Each pupil will write better under 
the influence of the desire to achieve a definite end, and will 
also read and listen better in the desire to compare his own 
efforts with the production in the published story. One 
of the stories written by the children should be read at the 
beginning of the recitation. The rest should be taken up by 
the teacher, and can be used on subsequent days as the 
teacher thinks best, either being read to the class, exchanged 
and criticized by the pupils, or marked and returned to the 
writer as the time and plan of the teacher may warrant. 

To add to the interest and vary the work, the class is 
asked to plan the story for oral presentation. Part of the 
time for preparation is used in drawing a picture to illustrate 
the center of interest in the story. 

In conducting the recitation with sight material, a pupil 
takes one of the books. He looks at the sentence, hands 
the book to another, indicating the place, then gives the 
sentence. If there is another book, it is placed in the hands 
of a pupil in another part of the class, who gives the 
second sentence similarly. By this time, the pupil receiving 
the first book should be ready with the third sentence, and 
so the story is continued around the class. 



n8 ESSENTIALS OF READING 

The purpose in having the pupil pass the book before 
giving the sentences is to compel him to have the entire 
thought in mind before attempting to give it, and to pre- 
vent dwelling upon the words, one at a time. It trains 
him to sweep the eye rapidly along the sentence, and helps 
him to overcome the slavish clinging to the words with 
his eye. As soon as the pupil has become natural 
and free he should be encouraged to read an entire paragraph 
before handing the book to the next pupil. He should be 
brought back to giving the single sentence without the book 
whenever he begins to depend too much upon the 
book or when the presence of book causes him to be 
unnatural. Faults in expression can be overcome sooner, 
and more easily in connection with sight-reading than 
in any other way. In sight-reading, as in all oral read- 
ing, much depends upon the skill of the teacher in 
questioning the pupil. If the pupil has failed to grasp 
the main idea in the sentence, a carefully planned question 
will lead him to see the relation of the ideas involved. As 
the sentences are short and the words are mostly familiar, 
the mechanical difficulties will not hinder him, so the ex- 
pression will generally be natural. The fact that no one 
has access to the story but the one reading, places on the 
reader the responsibility for giving his part so that all can 
get the meaning. If the story is an interesting one, and the 
teacher must select one that will be interesting, the other 
pupils will insist that it be given so they can understand it. 
The reader is under the conditions that exist in public speaking 
as nearly as they can be realized in connection with reading 
in the school room. The fact that the story is new, places 
the class in receptive attitude, and brings to the help of the 
reader the presence and inspiration of good listeners. The 
teacher should call upon those listening to give a sentence 



CLASSIFICATION OF MATERIAL 119 

from time to time, as a training in following a theme by ear 
only. This is a training perhaps equal in value to the 
ability to receive the message through the eye. At the con- 
clusion or on the following day, the class should be required 
to reproduce the story without reference to the book. 

Sight reading has the advantage that several classes 
can be combined in the exercise. Thus time can be saved for 
other subjects that are so often crowded out, or given too 
little time in the program. This can be done with no detri- 
ment to the work in reading, as the larger class is often an 
advantage to the reading exercise from the fact that it affords 
an audience. The one danger to be avoided is that of using 
material that is marked as designed for a class younger than 
the one that is to read it. Pupils do not object to reading 
easy stories, providing their pride is not hurt by the name 
applied to the book. A pupil who would be indignant at 
being asked to read in a second reader would read with pleasure 
an interesting story of the same grade if there was nothing 
about it to designate where it belonged. Stories can be cut 
out of papers and magazines and the paragraphs pasted on 
pieces of card board. These should be distributed face 
downward, with the numbers on the back. They are not 
to be turned over until the moment they are to be read. In 
this way, a great amount of the best material can be obtained 
at no expense. It is a very convenient and satisfactory way 
of conducting the recitation, as it does away with the neces- 
sity of passing the book. 

All the "publishing houses have good collections of supple- 
mentary readers now, and as so few copies are needed, it is 
possible with no increase in the cost of books, to have an 
unlimited amount of the best material, thus enlarging greatly 
the range of the pupil's reading, with the added increase in 
interest in and appreciation of good literature. 



120 ESSENTIALS OF READING 

OUTLINE OF CHAPTER X 

CLASSIFICATION OF MATERIAL 
Five kinds of material. 
First class. 

Average degree of difficulty. 
Subject matter. 
Vocabulary. 
Intrinsically worthy. 
Interesting to pupil. 
Valuable morally or intellectually. 
Second class. 
Highest grade of literature adapted to age and development of the class. 
Read repeatedly. 
Told in story form. 
Dramatized. 
Memorized. 
Third class. 

For reading for substance only. 
Training in subordination. 
The study recitation. 
Fourth class. 

Too difficult for oral reading. 
Silent reading. 
Discussion. 

Oral reading of passages. 
Fifth class. 
Sight reading. 
Importance. 

Easier than standard reader. 
Strictly at sight. 
Use of books. 
Time. 

Preparation. 
Language Lesson. 
Drawing. 

Conducting the recitation. 
Combining classes. 
Material. 

Papers and magazines. 
Books. 



CLASSIFICATION OF MATERIAL 121 

FOR REVIEW AND SUGGESTION 

1. What four kinds of material do most readers contain? 

2. What is the characteristic of each kind? 

3. What do we mean by material in degree of difficulty well suited 
to a class? 

4. What is meant by having material intrinsically worthy of study? 

5. What effect has the meeting of a very hard word among familiar 
words ? 

6. Why not let pupils attempt to read sentences containing un- 
familiar words? 

7. Why should the material be interesting? 

8. What kinds of material do you think is most interesting to boys of 
the -intermediate grades? To girls of the same grades? To boys of the 
grammar grades ? To girls of the same grades ? 

9. What qualities should material have besides attractiveness? 

10. Name some selections of the first class. 

11. Should pupils be required to commit selections? Why? 

12. Give a list of selections belonging to the second class. Why 
should they be memorized ? 

13. Is the habit of reading a newspaper in three or five minutes an un- 
mixed evil? 

14. Is Frank Murry's statement correct? What makes you 
think so ? 

15. What is the teacher's duty in such a case? 

16. How can she perform it ? 

17. How should difficult selections be handled? 

18. Why do boys like dime novels? 

19. What should this teach us? 

20. What kind of material should be used for sight reading ? 

2 1 . How many copies of the selections for sight reading are necessary ? 

22. Why is it well for the teacher to conduct the reading lesson with- 
out a text in hand. 

23. When all the period is to be given to sight reading, what assign- 
ment can be made for the study period ? 

24. How can reading and language be correlated? 

25. How can drawing be used to add interest to the work in reading? 

26. How can an exercise in sight reading be conducted ? 

27. What purpose in having the pupil pass the book before giving the 
paragraph ? 

28. How can classes be conbined for sight reading? 

29. Of what value is reproduction in reading? 



CHAPTER XI 
OBSTACLES TO GOOD EXPRESSION 

Many things that prevent pupils from acquiring 
good expression in reading can be removed by intelli- 
gent work on the part of the teacher. Some of the obstacles 
are so simple and can be controlled so easily that there is no 
excuse for their existence. 

The " reading tone " needs first attention. It is that 
painful, high monotone, usually accompanied by an unvary- 
ing stress on each word resulting in an absence of melody. 
It is so well known that it needs no description. So prev- 
alent is it that from the time the child first hears about school 
it has fixed in advance his idea of what constitutes reading. 
Listen while little children, before school age, "play school." 
They talk naturally enough until called upon to perform some 
school exercise, when they assume at once the " reading 
tone." This is true not only when they attempt to read, 
but in everything that is supposed to be a formal recitation. 
It is most marked in reading, and the presence of a book in 
the child's hand completes the change, if any thing was 
needed to make the attitude entirely unnatural. As this 
is before the child has been in school to form any habits, 
good or bad, it must be due to an indirect influence from the 
school. The child is doing its best to attain its ideal of con- 
ditions that prevail in school, and it does these absurd things 
because the atmosphere of the school-room has moved out- 
ward, and has established among children generally the 
idea that this attitude is necessary to the school-room, and 
that this strange, unnatural process is reading. 



OBSTACLES TO GOOD EXPRESSION 123 

It is extremely unfortunate that children should 
enter school with wrong ideals. It is certainly not econ- 
omy of time and effort to permit the formation of any habit 
or ideal that is not to endure. Since this ideal is a true 
reflection of school-room conditions, it must be corrected 
there, if at all. That it is a reflection of the school-room, 
cannot be questioned. Let any one not a teacher enter many 
school-rooms, and he will be impressed with the unnaturalness 
of the manner of speech and recitation. Many teachers are 
so accustomed to it that it fails to attract attention. This 
is the main reason for the existence of the reading tone. It 
could be corrected in all schools in a single term if teachers 
could but hear their schools as others hear them, and could 
have their ears attuned to catch this displeasing sound. 

The condition is most evident in the reading lesson. 
It probably owes its existence primarily to that subject. 
The reading lesson should be the point of first attack. It 
will be found, in varying degree, in all classes of most schools. 
It is most marked in the primary classes, but is most disap- 
pointing in the advanced classes, where most is expected 
from the pupils. 

The ideal must be changed. There must be established 
the conception that reading is not something new and strange, 
but is the very simple process of talking, with the slight dif- 
ference that some one else supplies, through the medium of 
the written or printed page, the thoughts that are to be uttered 
by the one talking. This is so old and so well known that 
it seems trite, and yet it is the kernel of the whole matter. 
It is accepted as a truth, but is a truth for theory only, and 
it has not become a working principle in the every-day life of 
the school-room. Only in exceptional schools do children 
read as they talk, and when they do, it is because excep- 
tional teachers have caused them to recognize and feel the 



i2 4 ESSENTIALS OF READING 

real nature of reading. Once let this idea be established in 
a school, and reading becomes a source of unlimited pleasure 
to teacher and pupil alike. 

The book is often an obstacle. The physical presence of 
the book or paper makes it difficult for the pupil to realize 
that reading is merely talking from the written or printed 
page. There is the evidence to his senses that the thoughts are 
not primarily his own, and even when he has made them his 
own in fact, the physical conditions keep calling him back to 
the foreign source, and rise as an obstacle to the free utter- 
ance of the thoughts. The first lessons in reading are usually 
given from the board. As nearly all primary teachers are 
careful to have pupils "talk from the board," there is not so 
much trouble here. On placing the book in the hands of 
the pupil, he should be required to read silently an entire 
sentence, asking questions about words not known, and 
then to give it without the book. Reading in this natural 
way with the book in hand, is the ideal to be attained, but 
the book should be removed whenever its presence causes 
unnaturalness. The frequent request, "Please tell me that," 
will serve to call the pupil back to plain, natural talking at 
every point of departure. Having secured natural expres- 
sion by this request, the recitation should move on. The 
pupil should not be asked to "read" the sentence, as if that 
were different from what had just been done. 

The mechanical difficulties of recognizing the words 
often bring the pupil acutely to the consciousness that 
he is not giving his own thoughts, but the thoughts of 
another. So much of an obstacle is this at times that the 
pupil fails to pass beyond the process of the mere recognition 
and repetition of a series of words. The concentration of 
attention upon the isolated words prevents the reception 
of the thought. As no thought has been received, none can 



OBSTACLES TO GOOD EXPRESSION 125 

be given. The remedy lies in reducing the mechanical dif- 
ficulties temporarily and in giving the pupil more power in 
surmounting them when they occur again. Often there is 
need of a radical reduction in the degree of the difficulties, 
which can be effected only by using easier material. While 
trying to overcome extreme faults in naturalness, the diffi- 
culties should be reduced to a minimum by using readers two 
or three years lower than the normal reader of the grade. 
Simple stories that have nothing about them to indicate the 
grade for which intended, are best for this purpose. If the 
subject matter is interesting and if it is well-written, it can 
hardly be too easy. Temporarily, the easier, the better. 

After placing the pupil in a natural condition by reducing 
the degree of the difficulties, it is equally important that he 
be given more power to surmount difficulties. This can 
be accomplished by frequent, extended, and persistent drill 
in recognizing isolated words from board-lists, by careful 
work in phonetics, and by the formation of the habit of using 
the dictionary. Pupils must be taught how to study a les- 
son, and one of the most important elements in this study 
is to locate the words that are obscure in meaning or uncer- 
tain of pronunciation and to find from the dictionary the 
needed information, or to obtain the assistance from the 
teacher at the beginning of the recitation. He should learn 
never to attempt to read orally a sentence that does not mean 
anything to him. 

Frequently pupils recognize words fairly well, but 
fail to see readily their relation in the development of 
the thought. This results in as serious faults in expression 
as does the failure to recognize the words. This condition 
generally results from the inability of the pupil to move the 
eye rapidly along the sentence in search of the key to the 
meaning. Such pupils.should be encouraged to take in short 



i26 ESSENTIALS OF READING 

sentences with a single glance, the length to be increased 
with the increase in power. 

The mental attitude of the reader is often a serious 
obstacle to good expression. Oral reading is an art allied 
to oratory. It differs in the source from which the material 
for speech is obtained. The orator presents original thoughts, 
or at least thoughts that express the personal attitude of the 
speaker. The reader disclaims personal responsibility, but 
endeavors to bring to the listener the message of another. 
The reader and the orator are alike in the source of their 
effectiveness. Both must have a message, must have ability 
to give the message, and must have a listener in a receptive 
attitude toward the message. The higher the degree of 
excellence realized in each of these respects, the more effect- 
ive will be the effort of either reader or speaker. Let any 
one of the elements be lacking, and the effect is partial failure. 
Whatever the ability of the orator, there can be no great ora- 
tion without a great theme and the presence of an audience 
responsive to the occasion. The nearer we can realize in 
the school-room the interest of audience and enthusiasm 
of speaker the greater will be our success in teaching reading. 

The usual method of conducting a reading recitation 
violates two of the three principles upon which oral 
reading is dependent. The speaker feels no responsibility, 
the hearers no deep source of interest. It accomplishes good 
and proper ends in teaching a careful analysis of the mate- 
rial of thought as taken from written forms, and it gives very 
valuable drill in oral expression. It does not put the reader 
or the listener into the mental attitude so necessary if the 
higher, finer influence is to be secured. Both are in equal 
possession of the message, so the reader does not feel the 
responsibility for its delivery. The listener, having no de- 
sire for a message already known, assumes a critical, instead 



OBSTACLES ro GOOD EXPRESSION 127 

of a receptive, attitude. His sole interest in the exercise, 
if there be any interest, is to criticise the way the recitation 
is made. 

Many pupils, especially in the grammar grades, do 
poor oral reading because of these conditions. The 
greatest orator that ever graced a platform could not main- 
tain himself with his audience if each member held in hand 
a copy of his address which had previously received an ex- 
haustive study, and if the attention was riveted on the minor, 
unimportant details; as, the omission, transposition and mis- 
pronunciation of words, or the bodily attitude of the speaker. 

Give the pupil the sense of responsibility for the 
delivery to his class of a message that is in his sole 
possession* Let it be a message that has intrinsic value, so 
that the class readily desires to receive it. Give him suffi- 
cient time for preparation so that he can feel on sure ground, 
and he will not fail to rise to the occasion. No matter if 
he makes a few mistakes, he will receive more benefit from 
such a lesson than from a long series of short, criticised reci- 
tations. 

The books of the teacher and most of the class should 
be closed during the recitation. This will place more 
responsibility on the one reading, even in the regular recita- 
tions. It will give in part the conditions under which oral 
reading should be practiced. All should insist that the 
exercise be read so they can understand it without the book 
in hand. 

The lack of melody is often due to the number lessons. 
The condition cannot be corrected by attention to its exis- 
tence in the reading lesson alone. The teacher must become 
conscious of its presence in every formal recitation, and must 
banish it from every position held. When pupils count, 
each number of the series, except the last, has that high, 



128 ESSENTIALS OF READING 

unnatural tone. It is, "one, two, three, four, fi ve ." 
This is similar to, "John is on the s i e d.» Teach 
the pupils to count in an ordinary tone of voice, giving 
each number of the series the falling inflection, just as they 
give the last, and as each would receive if it stood alone. If 
the knowledge of the other numbers in the series prevents 
giving a number the falling inflection, cover the others, 
and the number will be given with perfect naturalness. Num- 
bers should be added, subtracted, multiplied, and divided 
with the same nice discrimination in expression. Let it be 
remembered that the digits as elements in computing in 
the fundamental operations, have no thought relation. As 
numbers they are related, and this relationship should be 
clearly shown. The recitation of the multiplication tables, 
instead of a monotonous chant, affords an excellent oppor- 
tunity for thought discrimination. The table of twos should 
be given as follows: Two times 0NE are two. 

Two times TW0 are F0UR ' 
Two times THREE are SIX - 
Two times rouR are EIGHT ' 

Problems in analysis would be given as follows: If 0NE 
PENCIE costs EIVE CENTS > what will r0UR pencils cost? 

If 0NE pencil costs EIVE cents, E0UR pencils will cost four 
TIMES five cents, which are TWENTY cents. 

Therefore, if 0NE PENCIL costs EIVE cents, E0UR pencils 
will cost TWENTY cents. 

TWELVE ; s TWO-THIRDS rf what number? 

If TWELVE is TW0 -thirds of a number, 0NE -third of that 



OBSTACLES TO GOOD EXPRESSION 129 

number is one- HALE of twelve, which is SIX ' if SIX is 0NE 
third of a number, THREE "thirds, or the number, are three 
TIMES six, which are eighteen. 
Therefore, TWELVE is two-thirds^ eighteen. 

Lists of words have no connection in thought, so each 
word should be pronounced as though it stood alone. 

The faulty way in which spelling lists are pronounced is one 
more influence tending to make unnaturalness in the school 
room. Often each word of the series is given with a pecu- 
liar rising inflection. This is due to the sense of incom- 
pleteness, from the knowledge that more words are to follow. 
Usually it can be corrected easily by covering the words 
below or following the one to be pronounced, thus helping 
the pupil to think of it as independent of the other words, 
when the expression becomes natural, the word receiv- 
ing the falling inflection. If this fails, or as a variation, 

ask the pupil, "Is the word ?" naming any word 

of similar or even opposite meaning. This will generally 
help him to isolate the word from the others of the series. 
Language exercises need special attention. Pupils 
should read their own language exercises better than any- 
thing else, for the words are familiar and they know the 
thought. As a matter of fact, they often show no special 
improvement, for they are so influenced by the unconscious 
idea that reading is a peculiar process that even here it asserts 
itself and the monotonous drone appears. 
All subjects of oral recitation should be watched 
carefully. Unnaturalness can be corrected only by atten- 
tion at every point where it can exist. 



i 3 o ESSENTIALS OF READING 



. OUTLINE OF CHAPTER XL 
OBSTACLES TO GOOD EXPRESSION 
Obstacles can be removed 
"Reading tone" 

Acquired before entering school 

Occurs in playing school 

A reflection of school life 
Wrong ideals unfortunate 
Most in evidence in reading lesson 
Ideal must be changed 

Reading not a new process 
Book an obstacle 

Remove temporarily 

Correct use of book the ideal 
Difficulty of words 

Reduce 

Increase power 
Thought relations 
Mental attitude an obstacle 

Oral reading allied to oratory 

Source of effectiveness 

Violation of principles 

Conditions explain poor reading 

Remedy 

Responsibility 
Most books closed 
Number lessons 

Counting 

Analysis 
Spelling 
Language 
Other subjects 

FOR REVIEW AND SUGGESTION 
i. What is the "reading tone"? 

2. What causes it? 

3. How can it be overcome ? 



OBSTACLES TO GOOD EXPRESSION 131 

4. How can the book be an obstacle ? 

5. How can this obstacle be overcome ? 

6. How can the obstacle of too difficult words be overcome ? 

7. How can the difficulty of taking in the tnought by groups of 
words be overcome? 

8. What disadvantage has the usual method of conducting recita- 
tions? 

9. How dees the art of oral reading resemble oratory? What differ- 
ence? 

10. Upon what does the effectiveness of an oral reader depend ? 

11. How does it help the pupil for him alone to have the book 
open? 

12. What should be the mental attitude of a reader? 

13. What may prevent gaining this attitude? 

14. How may the methods of the number class effect expression in 
reading ? 

15. How, may they help expression? 

16. What care is to be exercised in pronouncing lists of words? 



CHAPTER XII 
ILLUSTRATIVE LESSONS 

There are two familiar stories that are opposite types and 
that are excellent illustrations of the principle that emphasis 
is always dependent upon what is known to the one for whose 
benefit the story is being told. These are "The House that 
Jack Built," and "Chicken Little." 

The first begins, "This is the house that Jack built." The 
word ''this" indicates that the idea of "house" is in conscious- 
ness, made so by a picture or other visible presentation. The 
speaker is pointing at the house or its picture, otherwise "this" 
could not be the opening word. Evidently the purpose of the 
sentence is, not to bring before the reader the idea of a house, 
but to tell something important about a house already known. 
To read the sentence, as is so often done, with the emphasis 
on " house," when it follows the demonstrative "this" which 
denotes presence, is to presume that the hearer cannot recognize 
a house when it is seen. Then the relative "that" indicates 
that the restrictive clause following is of more importance than 
the antecedent, as is true of all restrictive clauses. A con- 
ception of the word "house" includes the knowledge that it 
has been built. So the only important word in the clause 
is "Jack." "This" is a strong demonstrative and is emphatic 
by nature. All other words in the sentence are unimportant, 
and must be subordinated. This subordination can be effected 
most naturally by leaving them in a lower plane, in pitch, in 

132 



ILLUSTRATIVE LESSONS 133 

stress, and in the attitude of the reader toward them. Accord- 
ingly the sentence should be read : THIS is the house that * K 
built. 

In connection with the next sentence, there is, or should be, 
a picture of a sack marked "malt." The pupil will probably 
not know what the word means, but this sentence as given 
in the story assumes that he does. Where the story originated 
the word was well known. If the purpose were to tell that the 
substance is malt, it would read, "This is malt, which lay in 
the house that Jack built." The evident purpose of the 
sentence is to tell something about some malt that is already in 
mind. Again "this" is emphatic because it is a strong demon- 
strative. "Malt" is brought into consciousness by the picture 
with its label. "The house that Jack built," was brought out 
in the first sentence. Evidently the main idea is the relation 
of the "malt" to "the house that Jack built." It "lay in "or 
"was in" the place previously mentioned. Accordingly it should 
be read: 

THIS is the malt that LAY m the house that Jack built. 
If the pupil is caused to think especially of "this" and the 
relation as expressed by "lay in," he will naturally subordinate 
the rest of the sentence, reading the words in a smoothly 
connected monotone, lower in pitch and with less stress than 
the two important words. The pupils should dwell upon 
the first two sentences until they have acquired sufficient control 
of their powers of expression to give the sentences with proper 
subordination of the known to the new. The first difficulty will 
be to secure such subordination in thought as to cause the pupil 
to have the right mental attitude toward the different ideas in 
the sentence. He must feel that everything is unimportant 
but the ideas, "This," and "Jack," or "this" and "lay in." 
When this is accomplished, the mechanical expression of this 



i 3 4 ESSENTIALS OF READING 

relation becomes comparatively easy. It does no good to tell 
him to emphasize certain words, or to have him imitate some 
one else. He must be brought to understand that we do not 
care for the rest of the sentence because we already know 
about it. We want what is new. 

The next sentence is accompanied by a picture of a rat. 
The absurdity of looking at the picture and declaring it a rat 
must be evident. The purpose of the sentence is to tell that 
that particular rat ate the malt under discussion. It should 

be read: — Tms is the rat that ATE the malt that lay in the house 
that Jack built. The rest of the story should be read: 

THIS is the cat that CAUGHT the rat that ate the malt that 
lay in the house that Jack built. 

THIS is the dog that W0RRIED the cat that caught the rat 
that ate the malt that lay in the house that Jack built. 

Tms is the cow with the crumpled horn that T0SSED 
the dog that worried the cat that caught the rat that ate the 
malt that lay in the house that Jack built. 

Tms is the maiden all forlorn that mLKED the cow 
with the crumpled horn that tossed the dog that worried the 
cat that caught the rat that ate the malt that lay in the house 
that Jack built. 

THIS is the man all tattered and torn that ^^^ the 
maiden all forlorn that milked the cow with the crumpled 
horn that tossed the dog that worried the cat that caught the 
rat that ate the malt that lay in the house that Jack built. 

Tms is the priest all shaven and shorn that MARRIED 
the man all tattered and torn that kissed the maiden all for- 
lorn that milked the cow with the crumpled horn that tossed 
the dog that worried the cat that caught the rat that ate the 
malt that lay in the house that Jack built. 



ILLUSTRATIVE LESSONS 135 

THIS is the cock that crowed in the morn that WAKED 
the priest all shaven and shorn that married the man all tat- 
tered and torn that kissed the maiden all forlorn that milked 
the cow with the crumpled horn that tossed the dog that 
worried the cat that caught the rat that ate the malt that lay 
in the house that Jack built. 

is the farmer sowing his corn that the cock 

that crowed in the morn that waked the priest all shaven and 
shorn that married the man all tattered and torn that kissed 
the maiden all forlorn that milked the cow with the crumpled 
horn that tossed the dog that worried the cat that caught the 
rat that ate the malt that lay in the house that Jack built. 

This story could be written so as to change the meaning 
and the emphasis. The antecedent of each clause could be 
made emphatic, having each bring into consciousness the 
idea of which it is a sign. This would be necesssary in the 
absence of a picture or other visible presentation. It would 

read:— Once there was a H0USE which JACK built. There 

was some MALT ' which LAY IN the house that Jack built. 

Along came a RAT, which ATE the malt that lay in the house 

that Jack built. There was a CAT > which CAUGHT the 
rat that ate the malt that lay in the house that Jack built. 

Both versions of the story can be used with advantage, and 
they will be productive of nice discriminations by even young 
pupils. They can -be used profitably with all ages. Stories 
of this type are popular with young children. This is probably 
due to the fact that new words are serious obstacles to the 
child, and the occurrence of the same word again and again 
makes it pleasing. It is like happening upon an old friend, 
whom he meets with pleasure. When he finds not only the 
same words, but the same combinations of words repeated 



136 ESSENTIALS OF READING 

so often, he is pleased with the consciousness that he can use the 
them, and use them easily. They fairly roll from his tongue. 
Not only are such stories popular, but they are among the 
most valuable exercises that can be given to a class, if read 
correctly. The longer they grow, the more it is impressed 
upon the reader that the true meaning must be shown, regard- 
less of the number of words included. The self control that 
is acquired by subordinating nicely the long, involved, almost 
meaningless repetitions, is of the utmost value. But if they 
are read with no appreciation of the relative importance of the 
ideas, they become more jingles, forming vicious habits in 
thought getting and thought expressing. 

The story of Chicken Little is under quite different condi- 
tions. There is frequent iteration of the same ideas, but in 
each instance the story is new to the listener, so it must be 
told in the same way. 

CHICKEN Lktle (l) was ;„ a GARDEN, where ghe had NO 

MGHT to be, when a R0SE leaf fell on (2) her IAIL - AWAY she 
ran in great ™ GHT until she met HENNY PENNY " 

"O, HENNY penny> „ she criedj „ the SKY j s FALLING!" ( 3 ) 

" How do you KN0W? " asked Henny Penny (1). 
" Oh ! I SAW it with my EYES > and I HEARD it with my EARS ' 
and a PARI of it EELL on my IAn " I >m G0ING lo TELL the 

KING." (4) 

"Let me go WITH (5) y 0U> » sa id Henny Penny. So they 
ran to DUCKY Lucky. 
" DUCKY Lucky !" cried Henny Penny, the SKY is calling." 
"How do you KN0W? " asked Ducky Lucky, 



ILLUSTRATIVE LESSONS 137 

' ,CHICKEN Little T0LD me." 
"How do Y0U < 6 > know, cmCKEN "ttle?" (?) 
" oh! " answered Chicken Little, "I SAW it with my EYES . 
I ™ it with my EAES > and a PART of it fell on my TAn " 

p m GOING to TELL fte KING." (4) 

"Let me go WITH you", said Ducky Lucky. So they ran 
until they came to G00SEY Loosey. 
" G00SEY Loosey," cried Ducky Lucky, "the SKY is FALL " 

ING." 

"How do you KN0W ' Ducky Lucky?" 

" HENNY Penny T0LD me." 

"How do Y0U know, HENNY PENNY? " 

" chicken Little told ME -" (8) 

"How do Y0U know, chicken Little? „ 

"OH! j SAW ; t with my EYES, and j HEARD ; t ^ my 

EARS - and a PART of it fell on my ™ L - I'm G0ING to TELL 
the KlNG." 

"Let me go WITH you," said Goosey Loosey. So they ran 
until they met TURKEY Lurkey. 
"Turkey Lurkey , » cried Goosey Loosey, "the SKY is 

FALLING." 

"How do you KN0W > GO0SEY WOSEY? ' 

" DtJCKY Lucky T0LD me." 



"How do Y0U know, DUCKY LUCKY? ' 
" HENNY Penny told ME "" ( 8 ) 



138 ESSENTIALS OF READING 

"How do Y0U know HENNY PENNY? " 

,,CHICKEN Little told ME -" 

"How do you know, cmCKEN uitle?" 

"Oh! j saw it with my eyes, j heard it with my ears, 

and a PAET of it fell on my TAU " I'm G0ING to TEXL the 

KING." 

"Let me go WITH you," said Turkey Lurkey. So they ran 
with all their MIGHT undl they met E0XY Loxy. 

"OH! POXY LOXY," cried Turkey Lurkey the SKY; s FALL. 
DIG." 

"How do you know 1 "' asked Foxy Loxy. 
" G00SEY Loosey T0LD me." 
"Howdo YOtT know, G00SEY wosey?" 
" OTCKY Lucky told ME -" 
"How do Y0U know, DUCKY LUCKY " 

"HENNY PENNY . j j ME. " 

"How do Y0U know, HENNY PE NNY?" 

"CHICKEN Lktle toM ME." 

"How do Y0U know, cmcKEN KITTLE?" 

" 0H! I SAW it with my EYES > I HEARD it with my 
EAES > and a PART of it fell on my TAIL " I'm °° m(i to TELL 
the™ -" 

"COME WITH ME," ^ Foxy Loxy , "I wiU SHOW yQU ^ 

WAY to the king." 
So Chicken Little, Henny Penny, Ducky Lucky, Goosey 



ILLUSTRATIVE LESSONS 139 

Loosey, and Turkey Lurkey (9) all foll owed Foxy Loxyj 
just as he T D them to do. 
He led them into his DEN ' and they NEVER CAME our again. 

NOTES 

(1). Stress emphasis is closely related to accent. In the 
case of compound words or of phrases equivalent to compound 
words, the emphasis follows the most important part of the 
word or phrase. 

(2). A verb-phrase compound of the verb "fell" and the 
preposition ' ' on. ' ' It is equivalent to ' ' struck. ' ' 

(3). (4). Force emphasis, showing strong emotion. Almost 
every word is emphatic. 

(5). A verb-phrase composed of the verb "go" and the 
preposition "with". It is equivalent to the verb "accom- 
pany. " 

(6). Emphasis of contrast, indicated by increasing the 
stress and raising the pitch, accompanied by a circumflex of 
the voice. Notice that the ideas involved in the words "how" 
and "know" have lost their importance. The purpose is to 
refer a topic under discussion to another person present. The 
main idea is the contrasting of the sources of information. 

(7). Emphasis of direct address. The effect of the rising 
inflection on the last word raises it, into a position of 
emphasis. 

(8). Emphasis of contrast. 

(9). Notice how unimportant all these nouns are. They 
are repeated merely to please the child by referring to these 
friends as often as possible. The main idea is the assertion 
that they did follow, as they were told to do. 



CHAPTER XIII 
THE USE OF THE DICTIONARY 

Children should be taught to use the dictionary in 
Study. This training should begin in the fourth grade 
and should continue throughout the course. No one ele- 
ment of instruction is more important than this, as it leads 
to independence and cultivates the true spirit of investigation. 
The most natural place to emphasize the importance of using 
the dictionary is in connection with reading. Pupils should 
study the reading lesson with a dictionary at hand, to verify 
the pronunciation and the meaning of the words. 

The pupils should be provided with dictionaries, 
individually, or in small groups. A dictionary for every 
pupil is the ideal condition. It is not difficult to accomplish 
this. Part of the money used for full sets of supplementary 
readers can well be used for this purpose, and the work in 
reading can be as satisfactorily done with fewer copies of the 
text. Every school should have an unabridged dictionary 
and several abridged dictionaries, but if there are not funds 
to provide both, it is more helpful to have a good supply of 
the smaller works. 

Where pupils buy their own books, it is cheaper and better 
to have them purchase a book of the grade of Webster's High 
School dictionary at first. This will serve all purposes below 
the high school. High school pupils should have a book of 
the grade of the Academic dictionary. 

Districts that own the dictionaries will find it cheaper and 
equally satisfactory to buy primary dictionaries for the fourth 
grade, common school dictionaries for the fifth and sixth 

140 



USE OF THE DICTIONARY 141 

grades, high school dictionaries for the seventh and eighth 
grades, and academic dictionaries for the high school. 

When public funds are not available, the books should be 
supplied by other means. Some schools are accomplishing 
this by forming a school sentiment such that the pupils buy 
their own dictionaries. In districts where text-books are free, 
this is an excellent plan. The very fact that the dictionary 
is the one book that is owned by the pupil places it in a favored 
class in importance. High school pupils who have used a 
book for four years, will be more liable to continue using the 
same book after leaving school. It has become an inseparable 
companion in study. 

Whatever dictionary a class is using, the teacher 
should see that the pupils are familiar with its table of 
contents. There are valuable purposes of each part of the 
dictionaries mentioned above, if used in the grades suggested. 
Often pupils complete the course of instruction with no 
knowledge of the use of a dictionary other than for the pro- 
nunciation and definition of the words given in the body of 
the book. These are important uses, but a knowledge of these 
purposes only does not make the dictionary the tool that it is 
possible of becoming in the hands of a trained student. 

The key to the symbols as given in the guide to 
pronunciation should be studied and memorized. The 
schools are doing an excellent service in teaching phonetics 
in the primary grades but it should be continued in the grades 
following. The child in those early years, when subjects 
of interest are fewer and when verbal memory is so active and 
reliable, can memorize all the words he has occasion to use. 
If the study of phonetics is to stop at the end of three years, 
as is so often the case, the time and effort required to secure 
this knowledge is not warranted by the benefits. The system 
of phonetics in the primary grades should use the diacritical 



i 4 2 ESSENTIALS OF READING 

marks employed by the dictionary that is used in the schools, 
and the knowledge acquired in the primary grades should be 
put into daily use in the succeeding years. A very little atten- 
tion here, if continued, will hold easily the great advantage 
gained. 

If the children have not been taught phonetics, the key to 
the symbols should be taken up when the dictionaries are put 
into the hands of the class, and should be studied indefinitely. 
The work should be begun gradually and should be pursued 
persistently. The ability to indicate and express the sounds 
as found in accented syllables should be acquired first. The 
sure and accurate use of all sounds should be established before 
the pupils leave the grammar grades. One reason why 
students do not consult dictionaries more of their own initiative 
is because unfamiliarity with the symbols employed makes it 
a process of great effort with slight satisfaction in return. When 
the pupils, after going to the trouble to find a word, must 
consult a key or a list of type-words to know how to pronounce 
it, the process is not very satisfactory and is not conducive to 
repeating the same effort at another time. It is extremely 
unfortunate that the alphabet does not represent the sounds 
of the elements, but since it does not, two sets of symbols must 
be taught, or pupils will have little independence in handling 
new words. The key to the symbols should include the table 
of equivalents, so as to render it unnecessary to re-write a word 
to indicate its pronunciation, except in rare instances. 

The study of the alphabet in detail aids in correcting 
inaccuracies in the use of the elements in types common 
to many words. A small amount of effort here will accom- 
plish more than much time spent upon individual words. There 
are common errors widely prevalent that are disclosed by this 
means, and that are not difficult of correction if begun in the 
earlier years. A systematic study of the sounds of the letters 



USE OF THE DICTIONARY 143 

as given and illustrated in this part of the guide is most helpful. 
These sounds are best established by means of type-words. 

A study of the vowels in detail brings to light a few principles 
common to many. Attention can be called to them, and they 
can be verified by having the student examine lists of words. 
Among these are the following: — 

1. Long sounds of vowels occur only under accent. 
As, ate, late, mak-er, pro-fane; eat, me-ter, re-plete; ice, mind, 
mi-ter; in-vite; old, ov-er, e-mo-tion, lo-co-mo-tive; use, du-ty, 
a-muse. Some apparent exceptions to this are due to the fact 
that secondary accents are not always marked. An effort to 
pronounce the word will disclose the necessity of the missing 
accent. Thus, ad-vo-cate (v) , em-u-late, re-form, to form a new. 

2. Removing the accent from a long vowel results in 
a modified sound, indicated by the suspended bar. Thus, 
ate, sen-ate; eve, e-vent; i-dem,i-de-a; o-^uate, o-va-tion; u-nion, 
u-nite; hy-drate, hy-drau-lic. This same sound occurs in many 
French words that have been transplanted into our language; 
as, debris (da bre), cafe (ca fa). These words really have no 
word accent, and must be pronounced with a suspense of the 
voice, as if anticipating another syllable. 

3. Short vowels, excepting i or y, can neither close 
a syllable nor stand alone. Thus, man-ner, at-tend; par- 
i-ty, guar-an-ty; er-ror, a-mend; in-tel-lect; un-til; di-vide; 
a-bil-i-ty; dog, oc-cur; re-com-mit; un-der, subscribe. 

4. Unaccented < a ' standing alone or at the end of a 
syllable has the " short Italian " sound, indicated by a 
dot above it. In speech this often falls into the sound of the 
so-called neutral vowel. This is one of the most difficult 
characters in the list of symbols, in as much as it is really 
equivalent to four different sounds, according as it is accented or 
unaccented, or as it is followed by letters that modify its sound. 
It occurs under accent before sk, ff, ft, th, ss, sp, st, nee, nt, and 



i 4 4 ESSENTIALS OF READING 

nd. In practice this is often either sharpened to short a, or 
is given so broad a sound as to result in affectation. The cor- 
rect sound can be acquired by having the pupil take the position 
of the organs for pronouncing are, then raising the main part 
of the tongue, closing slightly the mouth, and giving the 
sound a quick utterance. If this is begun in the lower 
grades, it will result in a purity of speech tending to correct the 
sharp, harsh sounds so common in connection with this 
letter. 

5. Short o under accent should not degenerate into 
broad a. They are correlatives and it is helpful to change 
from one to the other in acquiring the correct sound. Give the 
sound of a as in all; open the mouth a little more, and a quicker 
utterance of the sound gives short o. 

6. A vowel is short before r followed by a syllable 
beginning with r or another vowel. Exceptions, parent, 
parentage, garish; changes made by verb inflection or the 
suffix er; and cases where an a follows the sound of w. In the 
latter case, the sound of a is equivalent to short o; as warrant, 
quarrel. 

Examples, arrow, charity, character, farrier, barren, error, 
sirrah, orange, myriad, syrup. 

A most common error is giving a in instances like the fore- 
going the sound of a as in air. Compare air and arrow, chair 
and charity, fair and farrier, bear and barren. Note also sir 
and sirrah, orb and orange. 

Have the pupils turn to the letter a in the dictionary and 
copy, with marks, the words that follow this rule. At least 
twenty-five words beginning with ar- will be found, most of 
which are commonly mispronounced. 

Over forty words will be found beginning with par- that are 
commonly pronounced incorrectly. The list can be extended 
indefinitely by finding other combinations. Note the difference 



USE OF THE DICTIONARY 145 

in the sound of the vowels in the words Mary, marry, and merry. 
Ordinarily they are given as the same sound. 

It is helpful to study how the sound of a vowel is affect- 
ed by a change of accemt, by changing its position in the 
syllable, and by the presence of other letters in the same or 
in the following syllable. Below are given lists of words 
that illustrate the effect. The numbers refer to the principles 
of pronunciation given before in this chapter. 

bar, bare, bear, bar-on (6), bar-rel (6), ba-ri-um (1), ba-rom- 

e-ter (4). 

car, care, ca-ret (1), car-et (6), ca-reer (4). 

err, er-ror (6), er-u-dite (6), e-ra (1), e-rupt (2). 

or, o-ral (1), or-a-tor (6), or-ris (6), o-ra-tion (2). 

sir, sire, si-ren (1), sir-rah (6), syr-up (6). 

Grammar grade pupils will be aided by a study of the 
more common prefixes and suffixes. Definite lessons of 
this nature will be of great economy in determining the meaning 
of words. The knowledge that un- means not gives a short 
route to the meaning of over one hundred words as listed in 
dictionaries of the academic grade. The meaning of com- in 
its various assimilated forms throws light upon many words in 
common use. 

One section contains rules for spelling certain classes 
of words. A few of these are very valuable, such as the rule 
for / and / at the end of monosyllables, the rules for deriva- 
tives of monosyllables, for derivatives of words ending in e, 
for derivatives of words ending in ie, for derivatives of words 
ending in y, and for the plural of nouns. 

There is a list of the abbreviations used in the 
dictionary. Many pupils have no knowledge of the meaning 
of these abbreviations. Unless they are directed by the teacher 
where to find this information and are required at times to 
turn to the table and verify certain abbreviations, they will 



146 ESSENTIALS OF READING 

pass over them with indifference, thus failing to receive the 
full meaning of words studied. No assistance is obtained 
from examining the word "abandon," unless the pupil knows 
the meaning of the abbreviations v., /., w., and F. In determin- 
ing the meaning and the pronunciation of " contract," it is 
necessary to understand the abbreviations v., /., fcV, a., and n. 

The systematic and helpful use of the main part of 
the dictionary is an end to be sought. The dictionary 
should be a working tool to assist in the study of every lesson. 
Not only should the teacher require an investigation of all 
new or unfamiliar words, but the pupils should be conscious 
of the fact that a strange word is a barrier to the thought and 
should investigate it of their own initiative. This attitude is 
the first characteristic of a good student. 

Pupils must be taught how to use the dictionary. 
The teacher should work with them in using it. She will find 
that many pupils do not know how to find words arranged 
alphabetically. Some of them do not know the order of the 
letters. This is a natural result of the minor emphasis given 
to the alphabet by the modern primary methods. Even 
when they know the alphabet, they do not have a definite idea 
of the relative position of the letters. They cannot tell promptly 
whether r comes before or after m. As an aid in finding words 
quickly, ask the class to turn to letter after letter in different 
parts of the book, until they are not only sure of the relation of 
the letters to each other, but also have a definite idea of the 
relative space occupied by each in the dictionary. 

After pupils are ready in finding the first letter of the 
word, they must still be shown how to find the exact posi- 
tion of the word. They must learn that words are 
arranged according to the sequence of each letter in 
the word. If the pupil is looking for jrontis- piece, he 
should open the book as near jr as possible. At the 



USE OF THE DICTIONARY 147 

top of the page he will look for the words in heavy type 
giving the first and the last word on the page. He will find 
fra, fre, fri, jrou. On the page beginning with frightful and 
ending with frouzy, he will see that the second column begins 
with frol. The eye follows rapidly down, — from, fron, front, 
fronti, frontis-piece. He finds the word divided into syllables 
and accented with a primary accent mark. The secondary 
accent on the last syllable is not indicated. The last two 
syllables are re-written and marked diacritically. As the 
first syllable is not marked he must look back to where the 
syllable front first occurs. Here it is found marked frunt. Now 
returning to the word and noticing the marks of the two other 
syllables, the whole is easily pronounced. 

It is not a small matter to be able to find a word in the dic- 
tionary. It really requires considerable thought, and skill 
is acquired only as the result of practice. Too many teachers 
assume knowledge and skill not possessed by the average 
pupil. Time spent in acquiring facility in using the dictionary 
will greatly increase the occasions when pupils will go to it for 
assistance. 

Pupils need to be taught the meaning of the accents, both 
primary and secondary, and should have much drill in exer- 
cises including the use of both accents. 

The fact that words have different meanings is a source of 
confusion. The pupils will need help in determining mean- 
ings suited to particular instances. This aid can be given by 
working with the pupils at first, and then by assigning exercises 
that will call for discrimination as to meanings. 

Most dictionaries contain a pronouncing vocabulary of 
biblical, classical, mythological, historical and geographical 
proper names. Pupils should be familiar with this section, 
and should be encouraged to refer to it, especially in connection 
with the reading lesson. 



148 ESSENTIALS OF READING 

The quotations of words, phrases, and proverbs from foreign 
languages, the list of abbreviations used in writing and printing, 
and the dictionary of Greek and Roman mythology are all 
valuable parts of a dictionary and are liable to escape notice 
unless pupils are required to use them until their location in 
the dictionary is definitely known. 

Pupils trained to use the dictionary will use other 
reference books. The spirit of investigation so engendered 
will result in students not satisfied with surface meanings. 
The discriminative study of words will pass over into an inten- 
sive study of things. The student that has become conscious 
of the line separating known from the unknown will never 
rest content until he has passed beyond it, using every available 
means. This is the highest kind of intellectual training, as 
it results in power. 

OUTLINE OF CHAPTER XIII 
THE USE OF THE DICTIONARY 

In connection with reading. 
Dictionaries to be provided. 
By district. 
By pupils. 
Teach table of contents. 
Key to symbols. 
Through phonetics in primary grades. 
From dictionary. 
Alphabet in detail. 
Long vowels. 
Modified long vowels. 
Short vowels. 
Unaccented a. 
Short o. 

Vowels before r. 
Change of sound of vowels. 
Prefixes and suffixes. 
Rules for spelling. 



USE OF THE DICTIONARY 149 

Abbreviations in dictionary. 

Body of dictionary. 
Pupils must be taught. 

Order of letters. 

Relative position. 

Relative space. 

Exact place of words. 

Syllabication. 

Accent. 

Diacritical marking. 

Meanings. 
Vocabulary of proper names. 
Quotations. 
Abbreviations. 
Dictionary of Mythology. 
Influence on pupils. 

FOR REVIEW AND SUGGESTION 

1. When should children begin to use the dictionary? 

2. What dictionaries should a school have ? How many? 

3. How can dictionaries be secured ? 

4. What difference as to the plan of text-book ownership in the dis- 
trict? 

5. Why should the table of contents be studied? 

6. Why is teachings of phonetics important ? 

7. Why should the diacritical marks be taught? 

8. How important is familiarity with the marks of pronunciation? 

9. What benefit will come to a school from studying and verifying 
the suggested rules for the sounds of certain vowels? 

10. What is the most valuable end to be gained by teaching the use 
of the dictionary ? 

it. How would you teach pupils to find, pronounce and determine 
the meaning of words? 

12. What valuable indirect influence comes from the persistent use 
of the dictionary ? 



CHAPTER XIV 
ARTICULATION 

The Chicago Tribune vouches for the truth of the following 
conversation between two girls: 

" Aincha hungry ? ' ' 

"Yen." 

"So my. Less go neet." 

"Where?" 

"Sleev go one places nuthur." 

"So dy. Ika neet mo stennyware, Canchoo?" 

"Yeh. Gotcher money?" 

"Yeh. Gotchoors?" 

" Yeh. Howbout place crosstreet ? ' ' 

"Nothing teet there. Lessgurround corner." 

"Thattledoo zwell zennyware. Mighta thoughta that 'tfirst. Get- 
cherrat?" 

" Ima gettinit. Gotcher money ? ' ' 

"Yeh. Didn' cheer me say I haddit? Allready?" 

"Yeh." 

"Kmon." 

The conversation is not improbable. After a little investi- 
gation one is ready to believe that the incident is a true one. 
Nearly every one says "canchoo" instead of "can't you." 
"Thattledoo' ' is very common for "that will do." "Howdudoo " 
passes current for "How do you do." One frequently finds 
himself at a loss to understand the words of a friend when he 
has no context upon which to base a guess as to the meaning 
of his friend's vocalization. This should be an embarassing 
condition to the friend, for there is no more certain evidence 
of culture than an elegant and distinct enunciation. 

A good articulation has a commercial value. From a 

150 



ARTICULATION 151 



boy's articulation, the prospective employer unconsciously 
judges the boy's character. An indistinct, mumbled sentence 
indicates to him inaccuracy, carelessness, or laziness. A dis- 
tinct articulation indicates self-control, energy, carefulness, and 
courage. 

It is important, therefore, that the schools should 
attend to articulation. The reading class is the one to whose 
share the exercise rightly belongs. Time should be taken 
each day for practice. The time should be at the beginning 
of the period, in order that it may not be crowded out. The 
teacher should not expect to attend to articulation during oral 
reading. A pupil cannot think at the same time of both thought 
and words, of both expression and articulation. The one 
thing is certain to injure the other. Sometimes a pupil will 
render a sentence with good expression, and when asked to 
repeat it pronouncing a certain word more distinctly, he will 
give an incorrect or inane expression. The cause of this is 
that the articulation of the word now sways the mind of the 
reader, not the thought of the sentence. Therefore, the drill 
in articulation should be distinct from the work in expression. 
If the text is used for drill, the teacher should not ask for good 
expression, while requiring good articulation. 

Articulation exercises should be systematic. Those 
sounds that are the hardest to pronounce distinctly should be 
practiced most. The consonant sounds will be found the 
most difficult. Exercises are added to this chapter on the most 
difficult of these. One exercise a day can be placed on the 
board, practiced, and copied into note books for review. A 
pupil who practices faithfully the few exercises given here will 
acquire the habit of careful articulation. Have pupils drill 
in concert, then individually, on both words and sentences. 
Insist that the sounds be distinctly heard. The list of exer- 
cises can be indefinitely extended. The exercise consisting 



i S 2 ESSENTIALS OF READING 

of the many long words is intended to help overcome the habit 
of omitting syllables in long words. We often say "par-tic- 
lar-ly," instead of "par-tic-u-lar-ly." For review work 
ordinary text can be used. Insist that every syllable and 
every sound be made distinct. 

Method of instruction. In giving a lesson it is well for 
the teacher to require both concert and individual work. In 
the concert work, have all pronounce the words together, 
urging force on the desired sound. Work with them, urge 
them, almost force them to use energy. In the individual work 
let each pronounce a word or a sentence distinctly. In using 
long words, take up one word at a time. Have it pronounced 
very slowly and distinctly, then more and more rapidly, see- 
ing to it that each syllable is still pronounced distinctly. 
Stand in the corner of the room farthest from the speaker, 
and insist that every sound be so pronounced as to make you 
hear it. It takes energy to make the d's and t's carry. See 
to it that the pupils place the organs of speech correctly, and 
that they stand or sit correctly. 

The exercises are grouped according to the organs 
principally used in their formation. Exercises 1-6 
include the labials, the sounds made principally with the lips. 
See to it that the lips are active in pronouncing these. Exer- 
cises 7-15 include the dentals, the sounds affected most by the 
teeth. See to it that the lips do not obstruct these sounds. 
Draw them back out of the way. Exercises 16-18 include the 
palatals, sounds affected most by the palate. Exercises 19-20 are 
drills on the nasals, sounds in which part of the sound is sent 
through the nose. Exercises 21-22 are drills on the liquids, 
those sounds which easily unite with other sounds. Exercise 
23 is a drill on the aspirate h; while 24-31 are drills on hard 
combinations. No attempt has been made to give a complete 
drill in articulation. The sounds on which exercises are given 



ARTICULATION 



iS3 



are the ones most likely to be given improperly, thereby causing 
indistinct articulation. It would be well, if we could also 
drill our pupils on vowel sounds, thereby gaining pure tones 
in addition to distinctness. The point of attack, however, 
in the public schools is distinctness. We shall be satisfied if we 
gain that. The exercises are therefore confined to the con- 
sonants. 



LABIALS 

i. B 
bear bat bill 

rub dab tub 

brute , bob battle 

A big black bug bit a big black bear. 
Brother Bill beat brother Ben. 
Bees build beautiful abodes. 



robber 
button 
hubbub 



2. P 

pet trip repeat 

pipe pup supply 

pint pinch simply 

People partake plenteously of supper. 
The parson prays for peace. 
Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. 



prepay 

suppose 

purpose 



fan elf 

fin muff 

fame scarf 

Finny fishes furnish fine food. 

Fun and frivolity follow foolish fancies 

French fried fritters fill folks full. 



finish 


famish 


profanity 


defame 


twelfth 


folk 



i54 



ESSENTIALS OF READING 



vine 
vim 
hive 



love 
save 
move 



4- V 



knives 
very- 
vanish 



vision 
revive 
bereave 



His voice revived the vile villain. 

The violent vandals vanished. 

The valiant victor saved the bereaved lover. 

5- M 
man mum number 

mule mill family- 

ham sum molest 

The miserable mule moves mournfully. 
The nimble monkey mixes the melons. 
Money may make much misery. 

6. W 
wig went wraps 

wart wear wish 

bow woe wail 

The wan widow wears worn wraps. 
William was wishing to wind the clock. 
The warrant for the wanderers was wisely withheld. 



famish 
lament 
amble 



wiggle 

western 

wrinkle 



7 . T 

tickle 


tattle 


titter 


fit 


mitten 


. teeth 



cat tar 

fat tread 

boat tote 

Two tame tigers taught Timothy timidity. 

Betty thought "Twice Told Tales" thrilling throughout. 

Ten troops went straight to the fort. 

8. D 
dent paid afraid bidder 

did date demand slender 

made bide deduct ladder 



ARTICULATION 



155 



Daisy devotedly dug dandelions. 
Daniel did his duty diligently. 
The road led through the wood. 

9. CH 
chair bench charm 

chain chew cherry 

birch much flinch 

Chums cherish each other. 
Chiggers chew the children's chief champion. 
The cheerful child chatters much. 

10. J or G 
just jerk singe 

gem gin huge 

jewel gill jelly 

George Jones jeers the gypsies. 
James gently suggests a journey. 
A large major unjoints a fragile gymnast. 

11. S 

sun slip mistress 

hiss moss insist 

sat soup parson 

Swan swam over the sea; swim, swan, swim. 
The last fruits are the sweetest. 
Six misses sat beside the priest. 

12. S or Z 
ease buzz surprise 

zinc freeze expose 

shoes tears husband 

The prize pleased the visitors. 
The reason for those things is easy. 
Please excuse Susie's sneeze. 



chisel 

chicken 

enchant 



giraffe 

majestic 

magic 



Susan 

solar 

mistake 



busy 

because 

amaze 



156 



ESSENTIALS OF READING 



13. SH 
shoe shed flesh shinny 

shake mush dash fashion 

wash ship sugar friendship 

The shape of the ship shows shrewdness. 
She shook the shrieking shrew sharply. 
Shall she wish sugar and shun mush ? 

14. TH 
path through bath thistle 

both 1 thick thrush thousand 

thrash think smith thrift 

Theophilus Thistle thrust three thousand thistles through the 
thick of his thumb. 
Thousands of thrifty thrushes thronged through the thickets. 

i5- ™ 

then that those bother 

the with other rather 

scathe lithe than neither 

Neither of them bothers the other. 

They loathe the southern weather. 

A farthing withers in this northern place. 



PALATALS 

16. K or-C 
can milk rebuke 

kind drink acorn 

cow frisk dictate 

Kate kindly killed the kittens. 
The cat drank and crept away. 
This key can conquer creaking locks. 

17 5 

get gas garter 

gift ghost muggy 

gum guide begin 



looking 

kitten 

Yankee 



garden 
govern 
giggle 



ARTICULATION 



157 



Disguised guards gathered the guns. 
Gertrude giggled and gasped. 
The rogue wriggled and got away. 

18. Y 
yet yacht yeomen 

yield yeast youth 

yard yolk yelj* 

The yellow dog yelps at the yeoman. 
Yesterday's yield is not yet in the yard. 
The youth yells at the yawning yachtsman. 

NASALS 



yellow 

yesterday 

yiddish 



not 


gun 


19. JN 
lantern 


Minnie 


tin 


nine 


canteen 


niggard 


Ned 


nun 


begin 


tenant 



Names mean nothing if not noted. 
Nine nuns began normal work. 
The gunner nicked the lantern. 

20. NG 
ring song single belong 

bang among clanging hanger 

fling throng singer mangle 

Singing mingled with the clanging noise. 
Stinging bees are thronging among them. 
Moaning and groaning he flung himself over. 

LIQUIDS 

21. L 
long link languish belate 

hall old expel laughter 

large mule liquid lily 

All listen to the liquid melody. 
Large bells excel in loudness. 
Laughter lasts longer than melancholy. 



158 



ESSENTIALS OF READING 







22. R 




rat 


car 


rattle 


rarify 


ring 


bore 


marl 


hurry 


roll 


mire 


heart 


martyr 



Her remarks were ready and reproachful. 
The roar receded as it rapidly retired. 
He hurries to resist the ravenous rascals. 
ASPIRATE 

23. H 

hat , hitch humble 

hem hard hushing 

hole huge hickory 

He hesitates to hurt his hearers. 
Harry hurries to hide his history. 
Heavy hindrances are hastily hustled hither. 
HARD COMBINATIONS 

24. BS 
mobs tubs grubs 
rubs bobs stubs 
tubes hubs cabs 

The cubes were made from slabs and clubs. 
He daubs the orbs with paint from the tubes. 
He stabs the leader of the tribes in the ribs. 

25. DS 
buds gads yards 
lads hides beholds 
loads dudes abodes 
The words of the ballads hides the moods. 
He adds the loads of beads to the goods. 
One of the lads grabs the swords. 

26. GS 
dregs sags 
bags bogs 
kegs tags 



hubbub 

handle 

harm 



hubbubs 
imbibes 
describes 



unloads 
ballads 
succeeds 



rags 


hags 


rugs 


dogs 


lags 


pegs 



ARTICULATION 



159 



The dregs of the jugs gags even hogs. 

The bags contain frogs' legs. 

The fags bring the jugs, and arrange the figs and eggs. 



27. PS 
maps pups glimpse 

tops ropes pumps 

laps scraps lips 

One of the maps flaps against the lamps. 
The man with the caps reaps the crops. 
He leaps and grasps the ropes. 

28. KS or X 
box flax mixture 

necks ' larks oxen 

lakes strikes ducks 

Wrecks on the lakes vex the Mexicans. 
Rex strikes the oxen on their necks. 
The packs of books go the Arctics. 

29. 
must most 

cast dust 

rust roost 

The largest post made the greatest mast. 
The wildest beast will fight the most. 
He still insists he sees the ghost. 



escapes 
gossips 
perhaps 



appendix 

lilacs 

attacks 



ST 




wildest 


digest 


request 


insist 


warmest 


contest 



3o- 


WH 




what whim 


whether 


meanwhile 


when which 


whither 


whinny 


why wharf 


whisper 


whistle 


Where are the whisperers? 






Why are the wheels whirling ? 






Would you whistle, whine, or 


whisper ? 





i6o ESSENTIALS OF READING 







31. ZH 




usual 


visual 


measure 


pleasure 


rouge 


azure 


leisure 


delusion 


seizure 


treasure 


diversion 


composure 



Decision, precision, and composure were usual traits. 
The Hoosiers in confusion destroyed the illusion. 
In conclusion, the explosion was a delusion. 

32. 

in com plete al to geth er con sci en tious 

mis er a ble af fee ta tion ex pe ri ence 

con cep tion bois ter ous ly ex trav a gant 

di rec tion Brit tan ni a us u al ly 

moun tain ous ge og ra phy re frig er a tor 

neg a tive col lee tion im me di ate ly 

al ti tude com pli ca tion un con di tion al 

33- 
The goods are not at all satisfactory. 

The government makes it obligatory to label oleomargarine. 
Collection and direction need particular care. 
Pronounce carefully usually and immediately. 

34- 

ar tic u la tion ca pit u lar cal or if i ca tion 

im pen e tra ble cir cum nav i gate . in ter de pen den cy 

par tic u lar ly the o log ic al e jac u la to ry 

al ien ate in com pre hen si ble gen er al is simo 

cam phor at ed a mal ga ma tion id e o graph ic al ly 

cal um ni a tor cal is then ic al ly in ex tri ca ble 

35- 
He spoke of it particularly and peremptorily declared it inex- 
plicable. 
The incomprehensibility of the calumniator was impenetrable. 



ARTICULATION 161 



He is the generalissimo of the antidisestablishmentarian amal- 
gamation. 

36. 

The following exercises are added for further drill. 

1. His cry moved me. His crime moved me. 

2. He can pay nobody. He can pain nobody. 

3. The battle last still night. The battle lasts till night. 

4. The culprits ought to be punished. 

5. The culprit sought to be punished. 

6. He can debate on either side of the question. 

7. He can debate on neither side of the question. 

8. They never imagined such an ocean to exist. 

9. They never imagined such a notion to exist. 

10. They discovered naught but wastes and deserts. 

11. They discovered naught but waste sand deserts. 

37- 

1. The wild beasts straggled through the deepest shade. 

2. The finest streams through the tangled forests strayed. 

3. The heights, depths, and breadths of the subject. 

4. Ice cream, not I scream; an ice-house, not a nice house. 

5. Then rustling, crackling, crashing, thunder down. 

6. The strife ceaseth, and the good man rejoiceth. 

7. He was most mindful in memory of that mysterious 
mummery. 

8. The rough and rugged rocks rear their hoary heads high 
on the heath. 

9. He had great fear of offending the frightful fugitive in his 
flight. 

10. The vile vagabond ventured to vilify the venerable 
veteran. 

1 1 . We wandered where the whirlpool wends its winding way. 

12. The stripling stranger strayed through the struggling 
stream. 



162 ESSENTIALS OF READING 

13. The swimming swan swiftly swept the swinging sweep. 
(Swim, swam, swum! — well swum, swimming swan!) 

14. Round and round the rugged rocks, the ragged rascals 
ran. 

15. No sheet nor shroud enshrined those shreds of shrivel'd 
clay. 

16. Sam Slick sawed six slim, sleek saplings for sale. 

17. Six brave maids sat on six broad beds, and braided broad 
braids. 

18. Amidst the mists and coldest frosts, 
With barest wrists and stoutest boasts, 
He thrusts his fists against the posts, 
And still insists he sees the ghosts. 

38. 
ALPHABETICAL ALLITERATION AND ARTICULATION 

Alderman Affluent always adjudicated with admirable ability. 

Brother Ben boldly beat, battered, and bruised the British 
with his bludgeon. 

Columbus Capricorn was cross, crabbed, crooked, 
carbuncled, and crusty. 

Deborah Diligent danced delightfully with a droll and dex- 
terous drummer. 

Elizabeth Edmonson cooked eleven eggs with excellent 
edibles. 

Frederick Firebrand fiercely fought a funny and fidgety 
fiddler. 

Gregory Gobbleum gaped and gabbled like a goose or gander. 

Hercules Hardheart hit a hawk on the head with a hatchet. 

Isaac Ingham inhabited an inclement and isolated island in 
Italy. 

Jemima Juniper with joy did jump a jig in jeopardy. 

Kate Kirkman kindly kissed her knowing kinsman. 



ARTICULATION 163 



Lem Lawless was a loudly laughing, lounging, long, lean, 
lank, lazy loafer. 

Maximilian Mettlesome magnanimously met a mutinous 
mountaineer. 

Nancy Nimble, with a nice new needle, netted neat nets. 

Omar Overall ordered Oliver Ollapod to overawe Owen 
Oldbuck. 

Professor Punch and Paulina Polk performed the Patagonia 
polka perfectly. 

Quintuple Quorum quickly questioned a queer and quizzical 
quidnunc. 

Roderic Random ran a ridiculous race on the Richmond 
railroad. 

Sophonisba Scribblewell was superlatively and surprisingly 
sentimental. 

Theophilus Talkative told tremendous, terrible, terrific, and 
tragic tales. 

Ursula Urgent uninterruptedly and universally used an um- 
brella. 

Valentine Vortex victoriously vanquished a vindictive villager. 

Wilhelmina Whirligig warbled with winning and wonderful 
witchery. 

X-ecrable X-antippe x-hibited x-traordinary and x-cessive 
x-citability. 

Young Yankee, a youthful yeoman, yawned at Yarmouth. 

Zedekiah Zigzag was a zealous zoological zoophite in the 
frozen zone. 



1 64 



ESSENTIALS OF READING 



OUTLINE OF CHAPTER XIV 



Importance. 

Duty of the schools. 

Systematic drill. 

Method of instruction 

Exercises. 

fi-b 



ARTICULATION 



Labials 



Dentals 



Palatals 



J? 

4-v 

5-m 

6— w 
L7-t 
r 8-d 

9-ch 

io-j 

n-s 

I2-Z-S 

13-sh 

L 14-th 

-k 

-g 

-y 



Nasals j ^-n 

( 20-ng 

Liquids < 



-ng 
21-1 
22-r 

Aspirate 23-h 

' 24-bs 
25-ds 
26-gs 
27-ps 

Hard Combinations i 28-ks 
29-st 



30-wh 
^31-zh 
32-Long words. 
33-Sentence of long words. 
34-Long words. 
35-Sentences of long words. 



ARTICULATION 165 

FOR REVIEW AND SUGGESTION 

1 . Is the Chicago Tribune example of bad articulation probable ? 

2. What is the quality of the articulation of the average person? 

3. Of what commercial value is good articulation? 

4. Of what social advantage is it ? 

5. How does good articulation indicate character? 

6. How does it influence character ? 

7. Why not require careful articulation in all oral reading? 

8. Do children all know how to place the organs of speech in pro- 
nouncing words ? 

9. What difficulties in articulation have children of different nation- 
alities ? 

10. What consonant sounds are usually pronounced poorly ? 

1 1 . What are the most difficult to pronounce ? 

12. Some sounds are easy to make, but very hard to be heard at any 
distance ? What are these sounds ? 

13. What vowel sounds ought to be studied if time permits? 

14. Of what value are the long word exercises? 



PART IV 

SELECTIONS FOR PRACTICE 



CHAPTER XV 
DIDACTIC AND MORAL 

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE TEACHER'S WORK AND THE 

VALUE OF PROPER IDEALS 

Theodore Roosevelt 

[The following selection is the first part of the address to the National 

Educational Association on July fth, 1905, at Ocean Grove, New Jersey. 

It is given here, not only for its literary value, but also for its peculiar 

importance to the teaching profession.] 

I am particularly pleased to have the opportunity of addressing 
this Association because in all this democratic land there is no 
more genuinely democratic body than this; for here each member 
meets every other member as his peer, without regard to whether 
he is president of one of the great universities or the newest recruit 
to that high and honorable profession which has in its charge the 
upbringing of the boys and girls who in a few short years will them- 
selves be engaged in settling the destinies of this nation. 

It is not too much to say that the most characteristic work of 
the Republic is that done by the teachers; by the teachers, for 
whatever our shortcomings as a nation may be — and we have 
certain shortcomings — we have at least firmly grasped the fact 
that we cannot do our part in the difficult and all-important work 
of self-government, that we cannot rule and govern ourselves^ 
unless we approach the task with developed minds, and with what 
counts, for more even than developed minds, with trained char- 
acters. 

You teachers — and it is a mere truism to say this — you 
teachers make the whole world your debtor, and of you it can be 
said, as it can be said of no other profession save the profession 
of the ministers of the gospel themselves; if you teachers did not 
do your work well, this republic would not outlast the span of a 
generation. 

169 



170 ESSENTIALS OF READING 

Moreover, as an incident to your avowed work, you render 
some well-nigh unbelievable services to the country. For instance, 
you render to this republic the prime, the vital service of amalga- 
mating into one homogeneous body the children alike of those 
who are born here and of those who come here from so many dif- 
ferent lands abroad. You furnish a common training and com- 
mon ideals for the children of all the mixed peoples who are here 
being fused into one nationality. It is in no small degree due 
to you, and to your efforts, that we of this great American repub- 
lic form one people instead of a group of jarring peoples. The 
children, wherever they have been born, wherever their parents 
have been born, who are educated in our schools side by side with 
one another, will inevitably grow up having that sense of mutual 
sympathy and mutual respect and understanding which is abso- 
lutely indispensable for working out the problems that we as 
citizens have before us. 

And now I wish to speak of another service that you render 
which I regard as inestimable. In our country, where altogether 
too much prominence is given to the mere possession of wealth, 
we are under heavy obligations to a body such as this which sub- 
stitutes for the ideal of the mere accumulation of money the 
infinitely loftier non-materialistic ideal of devotion to work worth 
doing simply for that work's sake. I do not in the least under- 
estimate the need of having material prosperity as the basis of 
our civilization, but I most earnestly insist that, if our civilization 
does not build a lofty superstructure on that basis, we can never 
rank among the really great peoples. We need the material pros- 
perity as a foundation, but it serves only as a foundation, and 
woe to us as a people unless upon that foundation we build a 
building of use to mankind. 

A certain amount of money is, of course, a necessary thing — 
a necessary thing as much for the nation as for the individual, 
and there are few movements in which I more thoroughly believe 
than the movement to secure better pay, better remuneration for 
the teachers. While I hope for the success of that movement, 
it remains true that the service you render is incalculable because 



DIDACTIC AND MORAL 171 

of the very fact that by your lives you have shown that you believe 
ideals to be worth sacrifice, and that you are eager to do non- 
remunerative work — non-remunerative as judged by the ordinary 
standards — provided only that work is of genuine good for your 
fellow men. To furnish in your lives such a realized high ideal, 
not merely to speak about, but to live up to, is to do great service 
to the country. The chief harm done by the men of swollen for- 
tunes to the community is not the harm that the demagogue is apt 
to depict as springing from their actions, but the fact that their 
success sets up a false standard, and so serves as a bad example 
for the rest of us. If we did not ourselves attach an exaggerated 
importance to the rich man who is distinguished only by his riches, 
this rich man would have a most insignificant influence over us. 

Now let me keep your minds upon my exact meaning. I speak 
of the rich man who is distinguished only by his riches, not of the 
rich man who uses his wealth aright as a means to an end. I ask 
you to remember the explanation of the parable of the rich man's 
difficulty in finding entrance to heaven. The parable shows how 
hard it shall be for the rich man who trusteth in his riches. It 
is the rich man who trusteth in his riches that I am speaking of, 
not the man who is a first-rate citizen, whether rich or poor. 
Although it is eminently right to take whatever steps necessary 
in order to prevent the exceptional members of his class from doing 
harm, it is wicked folly to let ourselves be drawn into any attack 
upon the man of wealth merely as such. Remember, you teach- 
ers, that it is just as wicked to attack the man of wealth as such 
as to attack the man of poverty as such. Moreover, such an 
attack is in itself an exceptionally crooked and ugly tribute to 
wealth, and therefore the proof of an exceptionally crooked and 
ugly state of mind in the man making it. Venomous envy of 
wealth is simply another form of the spirit which in one of its 
manifestations takes the form of cringing servility toward wealth, 
and in another the shape of brutal arrogance on the part of cer- 
tain men of wealth. 

Each one of these states of mind, whether it be hatred, servil- 
ity, or arrogance, is in reality closely akin to the other two; for 



172 ESSENTIALS OF READING 

each of them springs from a fantastically twisted and exaggerated 
idea of the importance of wealth as compared with other things. 
The man who is rendered arrogant by the possession of wealth is 
precisely the man who, if he didn't have it, would hate with envious 
jealousy the man who had it. The man who is roused to a fury 
of sour discontent, of envy, because he sees another man very well 
off, would with absolute certainty misbehave himself if he became 
well off in his turn. The clamor of the demagogue against wealth, 
the snobbery of the social columns of the newspapers which deal 
with the doings of the wealthy, and the misconduct of those men 
of wealth who act with brutal disregard of the rights of others, 
seem superficially to have no fundamental relations; yet in reality 
they spring from shortcomings which are fundamentally the same, 
and one of these shortcomings is the failure to have proper ideals. 
If the community pays proper heed to the right type of ideal, and 
admires the men most who approximate most closely to that ideal, 
you will not find in it any of these unhealthy feelings toward wealth. 

The failure to have the right type of ideal must be remedied 
in large part by the action of you men and women here, and your 
fellow-teachers throughout this land. By your lives, even more 
than by your teachings, you show that, while you feel, as all of us 
ought to feel, that wealth is a good thing, you regard other things 
as still better. It is absolutely necessary for each of us to earn 
a certain amount of money. It is a man's first duty to those depen- 
dent upon him to earn enough for their support; but after a 
certain point has been reached, money-making can never stand on 
the same plane with other and nobler forms of effort. 

The roll of American worthies numbers men like Washington 
and Lincoln, Grant and Farragut, Hawthorne and Poe, Fulton 
and Morse, St. Gaudens and MacMonnies; it numbers statesmen 
and soldiers, artists, sculptors, inventors, explorers, bridge-builders, 
philanthropists, moral leaders in great reforms; it numbers all 
these and many others like them; it numbers men who have de- 
served well in any one of countless fields of activity; but of rich 
men it numbers only those who have used their riches aright; who 
have treated wealth, not as an end, but as a means; who have shown 



DIDACTIC AND MORAL 173 

good conduct in acquiring it, and not merely lavish generosity in 
disposing of it. 

Thrice fortunate are you to whom it is given to lead lives of 
resolute endeavor for the achievement of lofty ideals, and to instill 
by living and teaching, those ideals into the minds of the next gen- 
eration, who will, as its boys and girls of to-day and as men and 
women of to-morrow, determine finally the position which' this 
ration is to hold in the history of mankind. 



THE POWER AND WORTH OF CHARACTER 

William Jennings Bryan 
The graduation oration spoken by William Jennings Bryan at 
Illinois College, Jacksonville, Illinois, Thursday, June 2, 1881, is 
at the same time one of his most polished and most thoughtful pro- 
ductions. As with the selection from Theodore Roosevelt's address, 
this text contains thoughts of peculiar value to teachers. 

Perhaps we could not find better illustrations of the power and worth 
of character, than are presented in the lives of two of our own country- 
men — names about which cluster in most sacred nearness the affections 
of the American people — honored dust over which have fallen the truest 
tears of sorrow ever shed by a nation for its heroes — the father and 
savior of their common country — the one, the appointed guardian of 
its birth; the other, the preserver of its life. 

Both were reared by the hand of Providence for the work entrusted 
to their care; both were led by nature along the rugged path of poverty; 
both formed a character whose foundations were laid broad and deep 
in the purest truths of morality — a character which stood unshaken 
amid the terrors of war and the tranquility of peace; a character which 
allowed neither cowardice upon the battle-field nor tyranny in the presi- 
dential chair. Thus did they win the hearts of their countrymen and 
prepare for themselves a lasting place of rest in the tender memories of 
a grateful people. 

History but voices our own experience when it awards to true nobility 
of character the highest place among the enviable possessions of man. 

Nor is it the gift of fortune. In this, at least, we are not creatures of 
circumstances: talent, special genius may be the gift of nature; position 
in society, the gift of birth; respect may be bought with wealth; but 



174 ESSENTIALS OF READING 

neither one nor all of these can give character. It is a slow but sure 
growth to which every thought and action lends its aid. To form 
character is to form grooves in which are to flow the purposes of our 
lives. 

It is to adopt principles which are to be the measure of our actions, 
the criteria of our deeds. This we are doing each day, either consciously 
or unconsciously; there is character formed by our association with each 
friend, by every aspiration of the heart, by every object toward which 
our affections go out, yea, by every thought that flies on its lightning 
wing through the dark recesses of the brain. 

It is a law of mind that it acts most readily in familiar paths, hence, 
repetition forms habit, and almost before we are aware, we are chained 
to a certain routine of action from which it is difficult to free ourselves. 
We imitate that which we admire. If we revel in stories of blood, and 
are pleased with the sight of barbaric cruelty, we find it easy to become 
a Caligula or a Domitian; we picture to ourselves scenes of cruelty in 
which we are actors, and soon await only the opportunity to vie in 
atrocity with the Neroes of the past. 

If we delight in gossip, and are not content unless each neighbor is 
laid upon the dissecting table, we form a character unenviable indeed, 
and must be willing to bear the contempt of all the truly good, while 
we roll our bit of scandal as a sweet morsel under the tongues. 

But if each day we gather some new truths, plant ourselves more 
firmly upon principles which are eternal, guard every thought and 
action that they may be pure, and conform our lives more nearly to that 
Perfect Model, we shall form a character that will be a fit background 
on which to paint the noblest deeds and grandest intellectual and moral 
achievements; a character that cannot be concealed but which will 
bring success in this life and form the best preparation for that which is 
beyond. 

The formation of character is a work which continues through life, 
but at no time is it so active as in youth and early manhood. At this 
time impressions are most easily made, and mistakes most easily cor- 
rected. It is the season for the sowing of the seed; — the springtime of 
life. There is no complaint in the natural world because each fruit and 
herb brings forth after its kind; there is no complaint if a neglected 
seed-time brings a harvest of want; there is no cry of injustice if thistles 
spring from thistle-seed sown. As little reason have we to murmur if in 
after-life we discover a character dwarfed and deformed by the evil 
thoughts and actions of to-day; as little reason have we to impeach the 



DIDACTIC AND MORAL 175 

wisdom of God if our wild oats, as they are called in paliation, leave 
scars upon our manhood, which years of reform fail to wear away. 

Character is the entity, the individuality of the person, shining from 
every window of the soul, either as a beam of purity, or as a clouded ray 
that betrays the impurity within. The contest between light and dark- 
ness, right and wrong, goes on: day by day, hour by hour, moment by 
moment our characters are being formed, and this is the all-important 
question which comes to us in accents ever growing fainter as we journey 
from the cradle to the grave, "Shall those characters be good or bad?" 



ELEGY WRITTEN IN A COUNTRY CHURCHYARD 

Thomas Gray 
The curfew tolls the knell of parting day, 

The lowing herd winds slowly o'er the lea, 
The ploughman homeward plods his weary way, 

And leaves the world to darkness and to me. 

Now fades the glimmering landscape on the sight, 

And all the air a solemn stillness holds 
Save where the beetle wheels his droning flight, 

And drowsy tinklings lull the distant folds. 

Save that, from yonder ivy-mantled tower, 
The moping owl does to the moon complain 

Of such as, wandering near her secret bower, 
Molest her ancient, solitary reign. 

Beneath those rugged elms, that yew-tree's shade, 
Where heaves the turf in many a mouldering heap, 

Each in his narrow cell forever laid, 

The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep. 

The breezy call of incense-breathing morn, 

The swallow twittering from the straw-built shed, 

The cock's shrill clarion, or the echoing horn, 
No more shall rouse them from their lowly bed. 

For them no more the blazing hearth shall burn, 
Or busy -housewife ply her evening care; 

No children run to lisp their sire's return, 
Or climb his knees, the envied kiss to share. 



176 ESSENTIALS OF READING 

Oft did the harvest to their sickle yield, 

Their furrow oft the stubborn glebe has broke; 

How jocund did they drive their team afield! 

How bowed the woods beneath their sturdy stroke! 

Let not Ambition mock their useful toil, 
Their homely joys and destiny obscure; 

Nor Grandeur hear with a disdainful smile 
The short and simple annals of the poor. 

The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power, 
And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave, 

Await alike th' inevitable hour: — 

The paths of glory lead but to the grave. 

Nor you, ye proud, impute to these the fault, 
If memory o'er their tomb no trophies raise, 

Where through the long-drawn aisle and fretted vault 
The pealing anthem swells the note of praise. 

Can storied urn or animated bust 

Back to its mansion call the fleeting breath ? 

Can Honor's voice provoke the silent dust, 

Or Flattery soothe the dull, cold ear of Death ? 

Perhaps, in this neglected spot is laid 

Some heart once pregnant with celestial fire; 

Hands that the rod of empire might have swayed, 
Or waked to ecstasy the living lyre. 

But Knowledge to their eyes her ample page, 
Rich with the spoils of time, did ne'er unroll; 

Chill Penury repressed their noble rage, 
And froze the genial current of the soul. 

Full many a gem of purest ray serene 

The dark, unfathomed caves of ocean bear; 

Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, 
And waste its sweetness on the desert air. 

Some village Hampden, that with dauntless breast 
The little tyrant of his fields withstood, 

Some mute, inglorious Milton here may rest; 
Some Cromwell, guiltless of his country's blood 



DIDACTIC AND MORAL 177 

Th' applause of list'ning senates to command, 

The threats of pain and ruin to despise, 
To scatter plenty o'er a smiling land, 

And read their history in a nation's eyes. 

Their lot forbade; nor circumscribed alone 

Their growing virtues, but their crimes confined; 

Forbade to wade through slaughter to a throne, 
And shut the gates of mercy on mankind; 

The struggling pangs of conscious truth to hide, 

To quench the blushes of ingenuous shame, 
Or heap the shrine of luxury and pride 

With incense kindled at the Muse's flame. 

Far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife 

Their sober wishes never learned to stray; 
Along the cool, sequestered vale of life 

They kept the noiseless tenor of their way. 

Yet e'en these bones from insult to protect, 

Some frail memorial still erected nigh, 
With uncouth rhymes and shapeless sculpture decked, 

Implore the passing tribute of a sigh. 

Their names, their years, spelt by th' unlettered Muse, 

The place of fame and elegy supply; 
And many a holy text around she strews, 

That teach the rustic moralist to die. 

For who, to dumb forgetfulness a prey, 

Their pleasing, anxious being e'er resigned, 
Left the warm precincts of the cheerful day, 

Nor cast one longing, lingering look behind ? 

On some fond breast the parting soul relies, 

Some pious drops the closing eye requires; 
E'en from the tomb the voice of Nature cries, 

E'en in our ashes live their wonted fires. 

For thee, who, mindful of th' unhonored dead, 

Dost in these lines their artless tale relate, 
If 'chance, by lonely contemplation led, 

Some kindred spirit shall inquire thy fate, — 



i 7 8 ESSENTIALS OF READING 

Haply some hoary-headed swain may say, 
"Oft have we seen him at the peep of dawn, 

Brushing with hasty steps the dews away, 
To meet the sun upon the upland lawn. 

There, at the foot of yonder nodding beech 
That wreathes its old fantastic roots so high, 

His listless length at noontide would he stretch, 
And pore upon the brook that babbles by. 

Hard by yon wood, now smiling as in scorn, 
Muttering his wayward fancies, he would rove, 

Now drooping, woful-wan, like one forlorn, 

Or crazed with care, or crossed in hopeless love. 

One morn I missed him on the customed hill, 
Along the heath, and near his favorite tree; 

Another came; nor yet beside the rill, 

Nor up the lawn, nor at the wood was he; 

The next, with dirges due, in sad array, 

Slow through the churchway path we saw him borne. 

Approach, and read (for thou canst read) the lay 
Graved on the stone beneath yon aged thorn." 

THE EPITAPH 

Here rests, his head upon the lap of Earth, 
A youth, to fortune and to fame unknown. 

Fair Science frowned not on his humble birth 
And Melancholy marked him for her own. 

Large was his bounty, and his soul sincere; 

Heaven did a recompense as largely send: 
He gave to misery, all he had, a tear, — 

He gained from Heaven ('twas all he wished) a friend. 

No farther seek his merits to disclose, 

Or draw his frailties from their dread abode, 

(There they alike in trembling hope repose,) 
The bosom of his Father and his God. 



CHAPTER XVI 
ORATORICAL 

GETTYSBURG ADDRESS 
Abraham Lincoln 
On November 19, 1863, two orators met on the r memorable field 
of Gettysburg. One was gifted in oratory, learned in schools and 
from books; the other was skilled in the "witchery of speech" as 
gathered from the river, the forest, and the plain. Both spoke. The 
speech of one lies dumb and meaningless, unread and unremem- 
bered, while the speech of the other, rooted in the memory of man 
and oft repeated, will live with the literature of the race, growing 
grander and sweeter in pathos and in beauty as the years shall 
gather around and about it. One was a brain effort, the other was 
a heart effort. One spoke words that were heard, the other words that 
were felt. One was art, the other genius. One was Edward Everett, 
the gifted scholar of New England; the other was Abraham Lincoln, 
the gifted railsplitter of the West. 

Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth upon this 
continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the propo- 
sition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great 
civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so 
dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that 
war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting 
place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It 
is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But in a larger 
sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this 
ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have 
consecrated it far above our power to add or detract. The world will 
little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget 
what they did here. It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here 
to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so 
nobly advanced. 

179 



180 ESSENTIALS OF READING 

It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining 
before us, that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to 
that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion; that we 
here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this 
nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that govern- 
ment of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish 
from the earth. 

ABRAHAM LINCOLN 
Charles H. Fowler 

Probably the finest analysis of the character of the great Presi- 
dent is contained in the following eloquent words selected from Bishop 
Fowler's lecture on Abraham Lincoln. 

Abraham Lincoln was the representative character of his age. No 
man ever so fully embodied the purposes, the affections, and the power 
of the people. He came among us. He was one of us. His birth, his 
education, his habits, his motives, his feelings, his ambitions, were all 
our own. Had he been born among hereditary aristocrats, he would 
not have been our President. But born in the cabin and reared in the 
field and in the forest, he became the Great Commoner. The classics 
of the schools might have polished him, but they would have separated 
him from us. But trained in the common school of adversity, his cal- 
loused palms never slipped from the poor man's hand. A child of the 
people, he was as accessible in the White House as he had been in the 
cabin. 

His practical wisdom made him the wonder of all lands. With such 
certainty did Lincoln follow causes to their ultimate effects that his 
foresight of contingencies seemed almost prophetic. While we in turn 
were calling him weak and stubborn and blind, Europe was amazed 
at his statesmanship and awed into silence by the grandeur of his plans. 

Measured by what he did, Lincoln is a statesman without a peer. He 
stands alone in the world. He came to the government by a minority 
vote, without an army, without a navy, without money, without munitions. 
He stepped into the midst of the most stupendous, most wide-spread, 
most thoroughly equipped and appointed, most deeply planned rebellion 
of all history. He stamped upon the earth, and two millions of armed 
men leaped forward to defend their country. He spoke to the sea, and 
the mightiest navy the world had ever seen, crowned every wave. 

He is radiant with all the great virtues, and his memory shall shed a 



ORATORICAL 181 



glory upon this age that shall fill the eyes of man as they look into history. 
An administrator, he saved the nation in the perils of unparalleled civil 
war. A statesman, he justified his measures by their success. A 
philanthropist, he gave liberty to one race and freedom to another. A 
moralist, he bowed from the summit of human power to the foot of the 
cross and became a Christian. A mediator, he exercised mercy under 
the most absolute abeyance to law. A leader, he was no partisan. A 
commander in a war of the utmost carnage, he was unstained with 
blood. A ruler in desperate times, he was untainted with crime. As a 
man, he has left no word of passion, no thought of malice, no trick of 
craft, no act of jealousy, no purpose of selfish ambition. He has adorned 
and embellished all that is good and all that is great in our humanity, 
and has presented to all coming generations the representative of the 
divine idea of free government. 

THE SOUTHERN SOLDIER 
Henry Grady 

You of the North have had drawn for you with a master's hand the 
picture of your returning armies. You have heard how, in the pomp 
and circumstance of war, they came back to you, marching with proud 
and victorious tread, reading their glory in the nation's eyes. Will 
you bear with me while I tell you of another army that sought its home 
at the close of the late war — an army that marched home in defeat and 
not in victory, in pathos and not in splendor? 

Let me picture to you the footsore Confederate soldier, as, buttoning 
up in his faded gray jacket the parole which was the testimony to his 
children of his fidelity and faith, he turned his face southward from 
Appomattox in April, 1865. Think of him as ragged, half -starved, 
heavy-hearted, enfeebled by want and wounds; having fought to exhaus- 
tion, he surrenders his gun, wrings the hands of his comrades in silence, 
and lifting his tear-stained and pallid face for the last time to the graves 
that dot the old Virginia hills, pulls his gray cap over his brow and 
begins the slow and painful journey. 

What does he find — let me ask you, who went to your homes eager to 
find, in the welcome you had justly earned, full payment for four years' 
sacrifice — what does he find when having followed the battle-stained 
cross against overwhelming odds, dreading death not half so much as 
surrender, he reaches the home he left so prosperous and beautiful? 

He finds his house in ruins, his farms devastated, his slaves free, his 



182 ESSENTIALS OF READING 

stock killed, , his barns empty, his trade destroyed, his money worthless; 
his social system, feudal in its magnificence, swept away; his people 
without law or legal status, his comrades slain, and the burdens of others 
heavy on his shoulders. 

Crushed by defeat, his very traditions are gone; without money, 
credit, employment, material, or training; and beside all this, confronted 
with the gravest problem that ever met human intelligence — the estab- 
lishing of a status for the vast body of his liberated slaves. 

What does he do — this hero in gray, with a heart of gold ? Does he 
sit down in sullenness and despair ? Not for a day. Surely God, who 
had stripped him in his prosperity, inspired him in his adversity. As 
ruin was never so overwhelming, never was restoration swifter. The 
soldier stepped from the trenches into the furrow; horses that had charged 
Federal guns marched before the plow, and fields that ran red with 
blood in April were green with the harvest in June. 

Never was nobler duty confided to human hands than the uplifting 
and upbuilding of the prostrate and bleeding South, misguided, perhaps, 
but beautiful in her suffering. In the record of her social, industrial, 
and political evolution we await with confidence the verdict of the world 



LIBERTY AND UNION 

Daniel Webster 

The peroration of Webster's reply to Hayne. Blaine says of 
this speech , "It revolutionized traditions, changed conclusions, and 
was like an amendment to the constitution." 

I profess, sir, in my career hitherto, to have kept steadily in view the 
prosperity and honor of the whole country, and the preservation of our 
federal union. It is to that union we owe our safety at home, and our 
consideration and dignity abroad. It is to that union that we are chiefly 
indebted for whatever makes us most proud of our country. That union 
we reached only by the discipline of our virtues, in the severe school of 
adversity. It had its origin in the necessities of disordered finance, 
prostrate commerce, and ruined credit. Under its benign influences 
these great interests immediately awoke, as from the dead, and sprang 
forth with newness of life. Every year of its duration has teemed with 
fresh proofs of its utility and its blessings, and although our territory 
has stretched out wider and wider, and our population spread farther and 



ORATORICAL 183 



farther, they have not outrun its protection or its benefits. It has been 
to us all a copious fountain of national, social, and personal happiness. 

I have not allowed myself, sir, to look beyond the union, to see what 
might lie hidden in the dark recess behind. I have not coolly weighed 
the chances of preserving liberty when the bonds that unite us together 
shall be broken asunder. I have not accustomed myself to hang over 
the precipice of disunion, to see whether, with my short sight, I can 
fathom the depth of the abyss below; nor could I regard him as a safe 
counselor in the affairs of this government whose thoughts should be 
mainly bent on considering, not how the union should be best preserved, 
but how tolerable might be the condition of the people when it shall be 
broken up and destroyed. 

While the union lasts, we have high, exciting, gratifying prospects 
spread out before us, for us and our children. Beyond that I seek not to 
penetrate the vail. God grant that in my day, at least, that curtain may 
not rise. God grant that on my vision never may be opened what lies 
behind. When my eyes shall be turned to behold, for the last time, 
the sun in heaven, may I not see him shining on the broken and dis- 
honored fragments of a once glorious union; on states dissevered, discor- 
dant, belligerent; on a land rent with civil feuds, or drenched, it may be, 
in fraternal blood! Let their last feeble and lingering glance rather 
behold the gorgeous ensign of the republic, now known and honored 
thoughout the earth, still full high advanced, its arms and trophies 
streaming in their original luster, not a stripe erased or polluted, not a 
single star obscured, bearing for its motto no such miserable interrogatory 
as — What is all this worth? Nor those other words of delusion and 
folly — Liberty first and union afterwards; but everywhere spread all 
over in characters of living light, blazing on all its ample folds, as they 
float over the sea and over the land, and in every wind under the whole 
heavens, that other sentiment, dear to every true American heart — 
Liberty and union, now and forever, one and inseparable! 



CHAPTER XVII 
DRAMATIC 

LOCHINVAR 

Sir Walter Scott 
O, young Lochinvar is come out of the west, 
Through all the wide Border his steed was the best, 
And save his good broadsword he weapons had none; 
He rode all unarmed, and he rode all alone. 
So faithful in love, and so dauntless in war, 
There never was knight like the young Lochinvar. 

He stayed not for brake, and he stopped not for stone, 

He swam the Eske river where ford there was none; 

But, ere he alighted at Netherby gate, 

The bride had consented, the gallant came late: 

For a laggard in love, and a dastard in war, 

Was to wed the fair Ellen of brave Lochinvar. 

So boldly he entered the Netherby hall, 

Among bride' s-men and kinsmen, and brothers and all: 

Then spoke the bride's father, his hand on his sword 

(For the poor craven bridegroom spoke never a word), 

" O, come ye in peace here, or come ye in war, 

Or to dance at our bridal, young Lord Lochinvar?" 

"I long wooed your daughter, my suit you denied; — 
Love swells like the Solway, but ebbs like its tide, — 
And now I am come, with this lost love of mine, 
To lead but one measure, drink one cup of wine. 
There are maidens in Scotland more lovely by far, 
That would gladly be bride to the young Lochinvar." 

The bride kissed the goblet; the knight took it up, 
He quaffed off the wine, and he threw down the cup, 
She looked down to blush, and she looked up to sigh, 
With a smile on her lips and a tear in her eye. 

184 



DRAMATIC 185 



He took her soft hand, ere her mother could bar, — 
"Now tread we a measure! " said young Lochinvar. 

So stately his form, and so lovely her face, 

That never a hall such a galliard did grace; 

While her mother did fret, and her father did fume, 

And the bridegroom stood dangling his bonnet and plume; 

And the bride-maidens whispered, " 'Twere better by far 

To have matched our fair cousin with young Lochinvar." 

One touch to her hand, and one word in her ear, 

When they reached the hall-door, and the charger stood near; 

So light to the croup the fair lady he swung, 

So light to the saddle before her he sprung! 

"She is won! we are gone, over bank, bush, and scaur; 

They'll have fleet steeds that follow," quoth young Lochinvar. 

There was mounting 'mong Graemes of the Netherby clan; 

Forsters, Fenwicks, and Musgraves, they rode and they ran: 

There was racing, and chasing, on Cannobie Lee, 

But the lost bride of Netherby ne'er did they see. 

So daring in love, and so dauntless in war, 

Have ye e'er heard of gallant like young Lochinvar? 

BARBARA FRIETCHIE 

John Greenleaf Whittier 
Up from the meadows rich with corn, 
Clear in the cool September morn, 

The clustered spires of Frederick stand 
Green-walled by the hills of Maryland. 

Round about them orchards sweep, 
Apple and peach tree fruited deep, 

Fair as the garden of the Lord 

To the eyes of the famished rebel horde, 

On that pleasant morn of the early fall 
When Lee marched over the mountain-wall; 

Over the mountains winding down, 
Horse and foot, into Frederick town. 



r36 ESSENTIALS OF READING 



Forty flags with their silver stars, 
Forty flags with their crimson bars, 

Flapped in the morning wind: the sun 
Of noon looked down, and saw not one. 

Up rose old Barbara Frietchie then, 
Bowed with her fourscore years and ten; 

Bravest of all in Frederick town, 

She took up the flag the men hauled down; 

In her attic window the staff she set, 
To show that one heart was loyal yet. 

Up the street came the rebel tread, 
Stonewall Jackson riding ahead. 

Under his slouched hat left and right 
He glanced; the old flag met his sight. 

"Halt! " — the dust-brown ranks stood fast. 
"Fire! " — out blazed the rifle-blast. 

It shivered the window, pane and sash; 
It rent the banner with seam and gash. 

Quick, as it fell, from the broken staff 
Dame Barbara snatched the silken scarf. 

She leaned far out on the window-sill, 
And shook it forth with a royal will. 

" Shoot, if you must, this old gray head, 
But spare your country's flag," she said. 

A shade of sadness, a blush of shame, 
Over the face of the leader came; 

The nobler nature within him stirred 
To life at that woman's deed and word: 

"Who touches a hair of yon gray head 
Dies like a dog ! March on !" he said. 



DRAMATIC 187 



All day long through Frederick street 
Sounded the tread of marching feet: 

All day long that free flag tost 
Over the heads of the rebel host. 

Ever its torn folds rose and fell 

On the loyal winds that loved it well; 

And through the hill-gaps sunset light 
Shone over it with a warm good-night. 

Barbara Frietchie's work is o'er, 

And the Rebel rides on his raids no more. 

Honor to her ! and let a tear 

Fall, for her sake, on Stonewall's bier. 

Over Barbara Frietchie's grave, 
Flag of Freedom and Union, wave! 

Peace and order and beauty draw 
Round thy symbol of light and law; 

And ever the stars above look down 
On thy stars below in Frederick town! 



PAUL REVERE'S RIDE! 
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. 
Listen, my children, and you shall hear 
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere, 
On the eighteenth of April in Seventy-five; 
Hardly a man is now alive 
Who remembers that famous day and year. 

He said to his friend, "If the British march 
By land or sea from the town to-night, 
Hang a lantern aloft in the belfry arch 
Of the North Church tower as a signal light,- 
One, if by land, and two, if by sea; 
And I on the opposite shore will be, 



[88 ESSENTIALS OF READING 

, Ready to ride and spread the alarm 
Through every Middlesex village and farm, 
For the country folk to be up and to arm." 

Then he said "Good night !" and with muffled oar 

Silently rowed to the Charlestown shore, 

Just as the moon rose over the bay, 

Where swinging wide at her moorings lay 

The Somerset, British man-of-war; 

A phantom ship, with each mast and spar 

Across the moon like a prison bar, 

And a huge black hulk, that was magnified 

By its own reflection in the tide. 

Meanwhile his friend, through alley and street, 
Wanders and watches with eager ears, 
Till in the silence around him he hears 
The muster of men at the barrack door, 
The sound of arms, and the tramp of feet, 
And the measured tread of the grenadiers, 
Marching down to their boats on the shore. 

Then he climbed the tower of the Old North Church, 

By the wooden stairs, with stealthy tread, 

To the belfry-chamber overhead, 

And startled the pigeons from their perch 

On the sombre rafters, that round him made 

Masses and moving shapes of shade, — 

By the trembling ladder, steep and tall, 

To the highest window in the wall, 

Where he paused to listen and look down 

A moment on the roofs of the town, 

And the moonlight flowing over all. 

Beneath, in the churchyard, lay the dead, 
In their night encampment on the hill, 
Wrapped in silence so deep and still 
That he could hear, like a sentinel's tread, 
The watchful night-wind, as it went 
Creeping along from tent to tent 
And seeming to whisper, "All is well !/' 
A moment only he feels the spell 



DRAMATIC 189 



Of the place and the hour, and the secret dread 

Of the lonely belfry and the dead; 

For suddenly all his thoughts are bent 

On a shadowy something far away, 

Where the river widens to meet the bay, — 

A line of black that bends and floats 

On the rising tide, like a bridge of boats. 

Meanwhile, impatient to mount and ride, 
Booted and spurred, with a heavy stride 
On the opposite shore walked Paul Revere. 
Now he patted his horse's side, 
Now gazed at the landscape far and near, 
Then, impetuous, stamped the earth, 
And turned and tightened his saddle-girth; 

But mostly he watched with eager search 
The belfry-tower of the Old North Church, 
As it rose above the graves on the hill, 
Lonely and spectral and sombre and still. 
And lo ! as he looks, on the belfry's height 
A glimmer, and then a gleam of light ! 
He springs to the saddle, the bridle he turns, 
But lingers and gazes, till full on his sight 
A second lamp in the belfry burns ! 

A hurry of hoofs in a village street, 

A shape in the moonlight, a bulk in the dark, 

And beneath, from the pebbles, in passing, a spark 

Struck out by a steed flying fearless and fleet: 

That was all ! And yet, through the gloom and the light, 

The fate of a nation was riding that night; 

And the spark struck out by that steed, in his flight, 

Kindled the land into flame with its heat. 

He has left the village and mounted the steep, 
And beneath him, tranquil and broad and deep, 
Is the Mystic, meeting the ocean tides; 
And under the alders that skirt its edge, 
Now soft on the sand, now loud on the ledge, 
Is heard the tramp of his steed as he rides. 



It was twelve by the village clock, 



i 9 o ESSENTIALS OF READING 

When he crossed the bridge into Medford town. 
He heard the crowing of the cock, 
And the barking of the farmer's dog, 
And felt the damp of the river fog, 
That rises after the sun goes down. 

It was one by the village clock, 

When he galloped into Lexington. 

He saw the gilded weathercock 

Swim in the moonlight as he passed, 

And the meeting-house windows, blank and bare, 

Gaze at him with a spectral glare, 

As if they already stood aghast 

At the bloody work they would look upon. 

It was two by the village clock, 
When he came to the bridge in Concord town. 
He heard the bleating of the flock, 
And the twitter of birds among the trees 
And felt the breath of the morning breeze 
Blowing over the meadows brown. 
And one was safe and asleep- in his bed 
Who at the bridge would be first to fall, 
Who that day would be lying dead, 
Pierced by a British musket-ball. 

You know the rest. In the books you have read, 
How the British Regulars fired and fled, — 
How the farmers gave them ball for ball 
From behind each fence and farm-yard wall, 
Chasing the red-coats down the lane, 
Then crossing the fields to emerge again 
Under the trees at the turn of the road 
And only pausing to fire and load. 

So through the night rode Paul Revere; 

And so through the night went his cry of alarm 

To every Middlesex village and farm, — 

A cry of defiance, and not of fear, 

A voice in the darkness, a knock at the door, 

And a word that shall echo forevermore! 

For, borne on the night-wind of the Past, 



DRAMATIC 191 



Through all our history, to the last, 
In the hour of darkness, and peril, and need, 
The people will waken and listen to hear 
The hurrying hoof -beat of that steed, 
And the midnight message of Paul Revere. 

GLAUCUS AND THE LION 

Edward Bulwer-Lytton 

The following selection is from one of the last chapters of Lyttoris 
"Last Days of Pompeii" It gives the climax of the story. The 
hero Glaucus has been unjustly condemned to death for the murder 
of a priest of Isis, Apaecides, by name. The real murderer is Arbaces, 
an Egyptian magician, the evil spirit of the story. 

Another priest, Calenus, had witnessed the crime and would 
have cleared Glaucus, had not Arbaces decoyed him into a dungeon, 
locked him there, and left him to die of starvation. By the assist- 
ance of the friends of Glaucus, Calenus escapes and reaches the 
arena just after the release of the lion that is to kill Glaucus. 

The scene is in the great open air amphitheatre of Pompeii. 

From the seats of the hundred thousand spectators can be seen the 
summit of Vesuvius. No sign appeared there of the terrible erup- 
tion that was to make this really the last day of Pompeii. From 
the general destruction Glaucus and his friends escaped, but Arbaces 
was killed. 

Glaucus had bent his limbs so as to give himself the firmest posture 
at the expected rush of the lion, with his small and shining weapon 
raised on high, in the faint hope that one well-directed thrust (for he 
knew that he should have time but for one) might penetrate through the 
eye to the brain of his grim foe. 

But, to the unutterable astonishment of all, the beast seemed not even 
aware of the presence of the criminal. 

At the first moment of its release it halted abruptly in the arena, 
raised itself half on end, snuffing the upward air with impatient sighs; 
then suddenly it sprang forward, but not on the Athenian. At half-speed 
it circled round and round the space, turning its vast head from side to 
side with an anxious and perturbed gaze, as if seeking only some avenue 
of escape; once or twice it endeavored to leap up the parapet that divided 



i 9 2 ESSENTIALS OF READING 

it from the audience, and, on failing, uttered rather a baffled howl than 
its deep-toned and kingly roar. It evinced no sign, either of wrath or 
hunger; its tail drooped along the sand, instead of lashing its gaunt sides 
and its eye, though it wandered at times to Glaucus, rolled again list- 
lessly from him. At length, as if tired of attempting to escape, it crept 
with a moan into its cave, and once more laid itself down to rest. 

The first surprise of the assembly at the apathy of the lion soon 
grew converted into resentment at its cowardice; and the populace 
already merged iheir pity for the fate of Glaucus into angry compassion 
for their own disappointment. 

The editor called to the keeper. 

"How is this? Take the goad, prick him forth, and then close the 
door of the den." 

As the keeper, with some fear, but more astonishment, was preparing 
to obey, a loud cry was heard at one of the entrances of the arena; 
there was a confusion, a bustle — voices of remonstrance suddenly 
breaking forth, and suddenly silenced at the reply. All eyes turned in 
wonder at the interruption, toward the quarter of disturbance; the 
crowd gave way, and suddenly Sallust appeared on the senatorial bench, 
his hair dishevelled — breathless — heated — half exhausted. He cast his 
eye hastily round the ring. 

"Remove the Athenian!" he cried; "haste — he is innocent! Arrest 
Arbaces the Egyptian — HE is the murderer of Apaecides!" 

"Art thou mad, O Sallust!" said the praetor, rising from his seat. 
"What means this raving?" 

"Remove the Athenian! Quick! or his blood be on your head. 
Praetor, delay, and you answer with your own life to the emperor! I 
bring with me the eye-witness to the death of the priest Apaecides. 
Room there — stand back — give way! People of Pompeii, fix every eye 
upon Arbaces — there he sits! Room there for the priest Calenus!" 

Pale, haggard, fresh from the jaws of famine and of death, his face 
fallen, his eye dull as a vulture's, his broad frame gaunt as a skeleton— 
Calenus was supported into the very row in which Arbaces sat. 
His releasers had given him sparingly of food; but the chief sustenance 
that nerved his feeble limbs was revenge. 

"The priest Calenus! Calenus!" cried the mob. "Is it he? No —it 
is a dead man!" 

"It is the priest Calenus," said the praetor, gravely, "What hast thou 
to say?" 

"Arbaces of Egypt is the murderer of Apaecides, the priest of Isis; 



DRAMATIC 193 



these eyes saw him deal the blow. It is from the dungeon into which 
he plunged me. It is from the darkness and horror of a death by famine — 
that the gods have raised me to proclaim his crime ! Release the Athen- 
ian — he is innocent!" 

"It is for this, then, that the lion spared him. A miracle! a miracle!" 
cried Pansa. 

"A miracle! A miracle!" shouted the people; "remove the 
Athenian — Arbaces to the lionl" And that shout echoed from hill to 
vale — from coast to sea — "Arbaces to the lionl" 

"Officers, remove the accused Glaucus — remove, but guard him yet," 
said the praetor. "The gods lavish their wonders upon this day." 

"Calenus, priest of Isis, thou accusest Arbaces of the murder of 
Apaecides?" 

"I do!" 

"Thou didst behold the deed?" 

" Praetor — with these eyes. — ■" 

"Enough at present — the details must be reserved for a more suiting 
time and place. Arbaces of Egypt, thou hearest the charge against 
thee — thou hast not yet spoken what hast thou to say?" 

The gaze of the crowd had been long riveted on Arbaces; but not 
until the confusion which he had betrayed at the first charge of Sallust 
and the entrance of Calenus had subsided. At the shout, "Arbaces to 
the lion!" he had indeed trembled, and the dark bronze on his cheek 
had taken a paler hue. But he had soon recovered his haughtiness and 
self-control. Proudly he returned the angry glare of the countless eyes 
around him; and replying now to the question of the praetor, he said, in 
that accent so peculiarly tranquil and commanding, which characterized 
his tones: 

"This man came to threaten that he would make against me the 
charge he has now made, unless I would purchase his silence with half 
my fortune; I remonstrated in vain. Were I guilty, why was the witness 
of this priest silent at the trial? Why did he not proclaim my guilt 
when I proclaimed that of Glaucus? Praetor, I throw myself on your 
laws. I demand their protection. Remove hence the accused and the 
accuser. I will willingly meet, and cheerfully abide by, the decision of 
the legitimate tribunal. This is no place for further parley." 

"He says right," said the praetor. "Ho! guards — remove Arbaces — 
guard Calenus! Sallust, we hold you responsible for your accusation. 
Let the sports be resumed." 

"What!" cried Calenus, turning round to the people, "shall Isis be 



i 9 4 ESSENTIALS OF READING 

thus contemned ? Shall the blood of Apaecides yet cry for vengeance ? 
Shall justice be delayed now, that it may be frustrated hereafter ? Shall 
the lion be cheated of his lawful prey? A god! a god! I feel the god 
rush to my lips! To the lion — to the lion with Arbaces!" 

His exhausted frame could support no longer the ferocious malice of 
the priest; he sank on the ground in strong convulsions — the foam 
gathered to his mouth — he was as a man, indeed, whom a supernatural 
power had entered. The people saw, and shuddered. 

"It is a god that inspires the holy man! To the lion with the Egyptian! " 

With that cry up sprang — or moved — thousands upon thousands. 
They rushed from the heights — they poured down in the direction of the 
Egyptian. In vain did the aedile command — in vain did the praetor 
lift his voice and proclaim the law. The people had been already 
rendered savage by the exhibition of blood — they thirsted for more — 
their superstition was aided by their ferocity. Aroused — inflamed by 
the spectacle of their victims, they forgot the authority of their rulers. 
It was one of those dread popular convulsions common to crowds wholly 
ignorant, half free and half servile; and which the peculiar constitution 
of the Roman provinces so frequently exhibited. The power of the 
praetor was as a reed beneath the whirlwind; still, at his word the guards 
had drawn themselves along the lower benches, on which the upper 
classes sat separate .from the vulgar. They made but a feeble barrier — 
the waves of the human sea halted for a moment, to enable Arbaces to 
count the exact moment of his doom ! In despair, and in a terror which 
beat down even pride, he glanced his eyes over the rolling and rushing 
crowd — when, right above them through the wide chasm which had 
been left in the velaria, he beheld a strange and awful apparition — he 
beheld — and his craft restored his courage! 

He stretched his hand on high; over his lofty brow and royal features 
there came an expression of unutterable solemnity and command. 

"Behold!" he shouted with a voice of thunder, which stilled the roar 
of the crowd; "behold how the gods protect the guiltless! The fires of 
the avenging Orcus burst forth against the false witness of my accusers!" 

The eyes of the crowd followed the gesture of the Egyptian, and 
beheld, with ineffable dismay, a vast vapor shooting from the summit of 
Vesuvius, in the form of a gigantic pine-tree; the trunk blackness — the 
branches, fire! a fire that shifted and wavered in its hues with every 
moment, now fiercely luminous, now of a dull and dying red, that again 
blazed terrifically forth with intolerable glare! 

There was a dead, heart-sunken silence — through which there suddenly 



DRAMATIC 195 



broke the roar of the lion, which was echoed back from within the 
building by the sharper and fiercer yells of its fellow beast. Dread seers 
were they of the burden of the atmosphere, and wild prophets of the 
wrath to come. 

Then there arose on high the universal shrieks of women; the men 
stared at each other, but were dumb. At that moment they felt the 
earth shake beneath their feet; the walls of the theater trembled; and, 
beyond in the distance, they heard the crash of falling roofs; an instant 
more and the mountain-cloud seemed to roll toward them, dark and 
rapid, like a torrent; at the same time, it cast forth from its bosom a 
shower of ashes mixed with vast fragments of burning stone! Over the 
crushing vines — over the desolate streets — over the amphitheater itself — 
far and wide — with many a mighty splash in the agitated sea — fell that 
awful shower ! 

No longer thought the crowd of justice or of Arbaces; safety for 
themselves was their sole thought. Each turned to fly — each dashing, 
pressing, crushing, against the other. Trampling recklessly over the 
fallen — amid groans, and oaths, and prayers, and sudden shrieks, the 
enormous crowd vomited itself forth through the numerous passages. 
Whither should they fly! Some, anticipating a second earthquake, 
hastened to their homes to load themselves with their most costly goods, 
and escape while it was yet time; others, dreading the showers of ashes 
that now fell fast, torrent upon torrent, over the streets, rushed under 
the roofs of the nearest houses, or temples, or sheds — shelter of any kind 
— for protection from the terrors of the open air. But darker and 
larger, and mightier, spread the cloud above them. It was a sudden 
and more ghastly Night rushing upon the realm of Noon! 



CHAPTER XVIII 
NARRATIVE AND DESCRIPTIVE 

THE LADY OF SHALOTT 

Alfred Tennyson 
part I 

On either side the river lie 
Long fields of barley and of rye, 
That clothe the wold and meet the sky; 
And thro' the field the road runs by 

To many tower'd Camelot; 
And up and down the people go, 
Gazing where the lilies blow 
Round an island there below, 

The island of Shalott. 

Willows whiten, aspens quiver, 
Little breezes dusk and shiver 
Thro' the wave that runs forever 
By the island in the river 

Flowing down to Camelot. 
Four gray walls, and four gray towers. 
Overlook a space of flowers, 
And the silent isle imbowers 

The Lady of Shalott. 

By the margin, willow- veil' d, 
Slide the heavy barges trail 'd 
By slow horses; and unhailed 
The shallop flitteth silken-sail'd 

Skimming down to Camelot: 
But who hath seen her wave her hand ? 
Or at the casement seen her stand ? 
Or is she known in all the land, 

The Lady of Shalott? 
196 



NARRATIVE AND DESCRIPTIVE 197 

Only reapers, reaping early 
In among the bearded barley, 
Hear a song that echoes cheerly 
From the river winding clearly, 

Down to tower' d Camelot: 
And by the moon the reaper weary, 
Piling sheaves in uplands airy, 
Listening, whispers, " 'Tis the fairy 

Lady of Shalott." 

PART 11 
There she weaves by night and day 
A magic web of colors gay. 
She has heard a whisper say, 
A curse is on her if she stay 

To look down to Camelot. 
She knows not what the curse may be, 
And so she weaveth steadily, 
And little other care hath she, 

The Lady of Shalott. 

And moving thro' a mirror clear 
That hangs before her all the year, 
Shadows of the world appear. 
There she sees the highway near 

Winding down to Camelot: 
There the river eddy whirls, 
And there the surly village-churls, 
And the red cloaks of market girls, 

Pass onward from Shalott. 

Sometimes a troop of damsels glad, 
An abbot on an ambling pad, 
Sometimes a curly shepherd-lad, 
Or long-hair'd page in crimson clad, 

Goes by to tower'd Camelot; 
And sometimes thro' the mirror blue 
The knights come riding two and two: 
She hath no loyal knight and true, 

The Lady of Shalott 



i 9 8 ESSENTIALS OF READING 

But in her web she still delights 
To weave the mirror's magic sights, 
For often thro' the silent nights 
A funeral, with plumes and lights, 

And music, went to Camelot: 
Or when the moon was overhead, 
Came two young lovers lately wed; 
"I am half -sick of shadows," said 

The Lady of Shalott. 

PART III 

A bow-shot from her bower-eaves, 
He rode between the barley-sheaves, 
The sun came dazzling through the leaves, 
And flamed upon the brazen greaves 

Of bold Sir Lancelot. 
A red-cross knight for ever kneeled 
To a lady in his shield, 
That sparkled on the yellow field, 

Beside remote Shalott. . . . 

All in the blue unclouded weather 
Thick-jeweled shone the saddle-leather, 
The helmet and the helmet-feather 
Burned like one burning flame together, 

As he rode down to Camelot. 
As often through the purple night, 
Below the starry clusters bright, 
Some bearded meteor, trailing light, 

Moves over still Shalott. 

His broad clear brow in sunlight glowed ; 
On burnished hooves his war-horse trode ; 
From underneath his helmet flowed 
His coal-black curls as on he rode, 

As he rode down to Camelot. 
From the bank and from the river 
He flashed into the crystal mirror, 
" Tirra lirra," by the river 

Sang Sir Lancelot. 



NARRATIVE AND DESCRIPTIVE 199 

She left the web, she left the loom, 
She made three paces through the room, 
She saw the water-lily bloom, 
She saw the helmet and the plume, 

She looked down to Camelot. 
Out flew the web and floated wide ; 
The mirror cracked from side to side ; 
" The curse is come upon me," cried 

The Lady of Shalott. 

PART IV 

In the stormy east-wind straining, 
The pale yellow woods were waning, 
The broad stream in his banks com- 
plaining, 
Heavily the low sky raining 

Over tower' d Camelot; 
Down she came and found a boat 
Beneath a willow left afloat, 
And round about the prow she wrote 

The Lady oj Shalott. 

And down the river's dim expanse — 
Like some bold seer in a trance 
Seeing all his own mischance — 
With a glassy countenance 

Did she look to Camelot. 
And at the closing of the day 
She loosed the chain and down she lay; 
The broad stream bore her far away 

The Lady of Shalott. 

Lying, robed in snowy white 
That loosely flew to left and right — 
The leaves upon her falling light — 
Thro' the noises of the night 

She floated down to Camelot; 
And as the boat-head wound along 
The willowy hills and fields among, 
They heard her singing her last song, 

The Lady of Shalott. 



200 ESSENTIALS OF READING 

Heard a carol, mournful, holy, 
Chanted loudly, chanted lowly, 
Till her blood was frozen slowly, 
And her eyes were darken'd wholly 

Turn'd to tower'd Camelot; 
For ere she reached upon the tide 
The first house by the water-side. 
Singing in her song she died, 

The Lady of Shalott. 

Under tower and balcony, 

By garden-wall and gallery, 

A gleaming shape she floated by, 

Dead-pale between the houses high, 

Silent into Camelot. 
Out upon the wharfs they came, 
Knight and burgher, lord and dame, 
And round the prow they read her name, 

The Lady of Shalott. 

Who is this ? and what is here ? 
And in the lighted palace near 
Died the sound of royal cheer: 
And they cross' d themselves for fear, 

All the knights at Camelot; 
But Lancelot mused a little space : 
He said, "She has a lovely face; 
God in his mercy lend her grace; 

The Lady of Shalott." 

ICHABOD CRANE 

Washington Irving 

The following selection is the beginning of Washington Irving s 
"Legend of Sleepy Hollow" in the "Sketch-Book" It is an ad- 
mirable example of Irving's beautiful style, and a wonderfully vivid 
picture of the extraordinary hero of a remarkable adventure. 

A careful study of the whole tale as well as of this selection will 
afford not only pleasure, but profit in an enlarged vocabulary and 
a cultivated taste. 



NARRATIVE AND DESCRIPTIVE 201 

In the bosom of one of those spacious coves which indent the eastern 
shore of the Hudson, at that broad expansion of the river denominated 
by the ancient Dutch navigators the Tappan Zee, and where they always 
prudently shortened sail, and implored the protection of St. Nicholas 
when they crossed, there lies a small market-town or rural port, which 
by some is called Greensburgh, but which is more generally and pro- 
perly known by the name of Tarry Town. This name was given, we are 
told, in former days, by the good house-wives of the adjacent country, 
from the inveterate propensity of their husbands to linger about the 
village tavern on market-days. Be that as it may, I do not vouch for 
the fact, but merely advert to it, for the sake of being precise and authentic. 
Not far from this village, perhaps about two miles, there is a little valley, 
or rather lap of land, among high hills, which is one of the quietest 
places in the whole world. A small brook glides through it, with just 
murmur enough to lull one to repose; and the occasional whistle of a 
quail, or tapping of a woodpecker, is almost the only sound that ever 
breaks in upon the uniform tranquility. 

From the listless repose of the place, and the peculiar character of its 
inhabitants, who are descendants from the original Dutch settlers, 
this sequestered glen has long been known by the name of SLEEPY 
HOLLOW, and its rustic lads are called the Sleepy Hollow Boys 
throughout all the neighboring country. 

In this by-place of nature there abode, in a remote period of American 
history, that is to say, some thirty years since, a worthy wight of the name 
of Ichabod Crane; who sojourned, or, as he expressed it, "tarried," in 
Sleepy Hollow, for the purpose of instructing the children of the vicinity. 
He was a native of Connecticut; a State which supplies the Union with 
pioneers for the mind as well as for the forest, and sends forth yearly its 
legions of frontier woodsmen and country schoolmasters. The cognomen 
of Crane was not inapplicable to his person. He was tall, but exceedingly 
lank, with narrow shoulders, long arms and legs, hands that dangled a 
mile out of his sleeves, feet that might have served for shovels, and his 
whole frame most loosely hung together. His head was small, and flat 
at top, with huge ears, large green glassy eyes, and a long snipe nose, so 
that it looked like a weathercock perched upon his spindle neck, to tell 
which way the wind blew. To see him striding along the profile of a 
hill on a windy day, with his clothes bagging and fluttering about him, 
one might have mistaken him for the genius of famine descending upon 
the earth, or some scarecrow eloped from the cornfield. 

His school-house was a low building of one large room, rudely con- 



202 ESSENTIALS OF READING 

structedof logs; the windows partly glazed, and partly patched with leaves 
of old copy-books. It was most ingeniously secured at vacant hours by 
withes twisted in the handle of the door, and stakes set against the 
window-shutters; so that though a thief might get in with perfect 
ease, he would find some embarrassment in getting out; an idea most 
probably borrowed by the architect, Yost Van Houten, from the mystery 
of an eel-pot. The school-house stood in a rather lonely but pleasant 
situation, just at the foot of a woody hill, with a brook running close by, 
and a formidable birch-tree growing at one end of it. From hence the 
low murmur of his pupils' voices, conning over their lessons, might be 
heard in a drowsy summer's day, like the hum of a beehive, interrupted 
now and then by the authoritative voice of the master, in the tone of 
menace or command; or, peradventure, by the appalling sound of the 
birch, as he urged some tardy loiterer along the flowery path of knowl- 
edge. Truth to say, he was a conscientious man, and ever bore in mind 
the golden maxim, "Spare the rod and spoil the child." 

Ichabod Crane's scholars certainly were not spoiled. I would not 
have it imagined, however, that he was one of those cruel potentates of 
the school who joy in the smart of their subjects; on the contrary, he 
administered justice with discrimination rather than severity; taking 
the burden off the backs of the weak, and laying it on those of the strong. 
Your mere puny stripling, that winced at the least flourish of the rod, 
was passed by with indulgence; but the claims of justice were satisfied 
by inflicting a double portion on some little, tough, wrong-headed, 
broad-skirted Dutch urchin, who sulked and swelled and grew dogged 
and sullen beneath the birch. All this he called "doing his duty by 
their parents;" and he never inflicted a chastisement without following 
it by the assurance, so consolatory to the smarting urchin, that "he would 
remember it, and thank him for it, the longest day he had to live." 

When school-hours were over, he was even the companion and play- 
mate of the larger boys; and on holiday afternoons would convoy some 
of the smaller ones home, who happened to have pretty sisters, or good 
housewives for mothers, noted for the comforts of the cupboard. Indeed, 
it behooved him to keep on good terms with his pupils. The revenue 
arising from his school was small, and would have been scarcely suf- 
ficient to furnish him with daily bread, for he was a huge feeder, and, 
though lank, had the dilating powers of an anaconda; but to help out 
his maintenance, he was, according to country custom in those parts, 
boarded and lodged at the houses of the famers, whose children he 
instructed. With these he lived successively a week at a time; thus 



NARRATIVE AND DESCRIPTIVE 203 

going the rounds of the neighborhood, with all his worldly effects tied 
up in a cotton handkerchief. 

That all this might not be too onerous on the purses of his rustic 
patrons, who are apt to consider the costs of schooling a grievous burden, 
and schoolmasters as mere drones, he had various ways of rendering 
himself both useful and agreeable. He assisted the farmers occasionally 
in the lighter labors of their farms; helped to make hay; mended the 
fences; took the horses to water; drove the cows from pasture; cut wood 
for the winter fire. He laid aside, too, all the dominant dignity and 
absolute sway with which he lorded it in his little empire, the school, and 
became wonderfully gentle and ingratiating. He found favor in the 
eyes of the mothers, by petting the children, particularly the youngest; 
and like the lion bold which whilom so magnanimously the lamb did 
hold, he would sit with a child on one knee, and rock a cradle with his 
foot for whole hours together. 

In addition to his other vocations, he was the singing-master of the 
neighborhood, and picked up many bright shillings by instructing the 
young folks in psalmody. It was a matter of no little vanity to him, on 
Sundays, to take his station in front of the church gallery, with a band 
of chosen singers; where, in his own mind, he completely carried away 
the palm from the parson. Certain it is, his voice resounded far above 
all the rest of the congregation; and there are peculiar quavers still to 
be heard in that church, and which may even be heard half a mile off, 
quite to the opposite side of the mill-pond, on a still Sunday morning, 
which are said to be legitimately descended from the nose of Ichabod 
Crane. Thus by divers little make-shifts in that, ingenious way which is 
commonly denominated "by hook and by crook," the worthy pedagogue 
got on tolerably enough, and was thought, by all who understood nothing 
of the labor of head-work, to have a wonderfully easy life of it. 

The schoolmaster is generally a man of some importance in the 
female circle of a rural neighborhood; being considered a kind of idle 
gentle-man like personage, of vastly superior taste and accomplishment 
to the rough country swains, and, indeed, inferior in learning only to 
the parson. His appearance, therefore, is apt to occasion some little 
stir at the tea-table of a farm-house, and the addition of a supernumerary 
dish of cakes or sweetmeats, or, peradventure, the parade of a silver 
tea-pot. Our man of letters, therefore, was peculiarly happy in the 
smiles of all the country damsels. How he would figure among them 
in the church-yard, between services on Sundays! gathering grapes for 
them from the wild vines that overrun the surrounding trees; reciting 



20 4 ESSENTIALS OF READING 

for their- amusement all the epitaphs on the tomb-stones; or sauntering 
with a whole bevy of them, along the banks of the adjacent mill-pond; 
while the more bashful country bumpkins hung sheepishly back, envying 
his superior elegance and address. 

From his half itinerant life, also, he was a kind of traveling gazette, 
carrying the whole budget of local gossip from house to house; so that 
his appearance was always greeted with satisfaction. He was, moreover, 
esteemed by the women as a man of great erudition, for he had read 
several books quite through and was a perfect master of Cotton Mather's 
History of New England Witchcraft, in which, by the way, he most firmly 
and potently believed. 



THE DEATH OF LITTLE NELL 

Charles Dickens 

She was dead. No sleep so beautiful and calm, so free from trace of 
pain, so fair to look upon. She seemed a creature fresh from the hand 
of God, and waiting for the breath of life; not one who had lived and 
suffered death. Her couch was dressed with here and there some 
winter-berries and green leaves gathered in a spot she had been used to 
favor. "When I die, put near me something that has loved the light, 
and had the sky above it always." These were her words. 

She was dead. Dear, gentle, patient, noble Nell was dead. Her 
little bird — a poor, slight thing the pressure of a finger would have 
crushed — was stirring nimbly in its cage; and the strong heart of its 
child-mistress was mute and motionless forever. Where were the traces 
of her early cares, her sufferings, and fatigues ? All gone. Sorrow was 
dead, indeed, in her; but peace and perfect happiness were born — 
imagined — in her tranquil beauty and profound repose. 

And still her former self lay there, unaltered in this change. Yes. 
The old fireside had smiled upon that same sweet face; it had passed, 
like a dream, through haunts of misery and care; at the door of the poor 
schoolmaster on the summer evening, before the furnace-fire upon the 
cold, wet night, at the still bedside of the dying boy there had been the 
same mild and lovely look. So shall we know the angels in their majesty, 
after death. 

The old man held one languid arm in his, and the small tight hand 
folded to his breast for warmth. It was the hand she had stretched out 
to him with her last smile, the hand that had led him on through all 
their wanderings. Ever and anon he pressed it to his lips; then hugged 



NARRATIVE AND DESCRIPTIVE 205 

it to his breast again, murmuring that it was warmer now; and, as he 
said it, he looked in agony to those who stood around, as if imploring 
them to help her. 

She was dead, and past all help, or need of help. The ancient rooms 
she had seemed to fill with life, even while her own was waning fast — the 
garden she had tended — the eyes she had gladdened — the noiseless 
haunts of many a thoughtless hour — the paths she had trodden, as it 
were, but yesterday — could know her no more. 

"It is not," said the schoolmaster, as he bent down to kiss her on the 
cheek, and gave his tears free vent, "it is not in this world that Heaven's 
justice ends. Think what earth is, compared with the world to which 
her young spirit has winged its early flight, and say, if one deliberate wish, 
expressed in solemn tones above this bed, could call her back to life, 
which of us would utter it! " 

She had been dead two days. They were all about her at the time, 
knowing that the end was drawing on. She died soon after daybreak. 
They had read and talked to her in the earlier portion of the night; but 
as the hours crept on, she sank to sleep. They could tell, by what she 
faintly uttered in her dreams, that they were of her journeyings with the 
old man: they were of no painful scenes, but of those who had helped 
them and used them kindly; for she often said "God bless you!" with 
great fervor. 

Waking, she never wandered in her mind but once, and that was at 
beautiful music, which she said, was in the air. God knows. It may 
have been. Opening her eyes at last, from a very quiet sleep, she begged 
that they would kiss her once again. That done, she turned to the old 
man, with a lovely smile upon her face — such, they said, as they had 
never seen, and never could forget — and clung with, both her arms 
about his neck. She had never murmured or complained: but with a 
quiet mind, and manner quite unaltered — save that she every day became 
more earnest and more grateful to them — faded like the light upon the 
summer's evening. 

The child who had been her little friend, came there, almost as soon as 
it was day, with an offering of dried flowers, which he begged them to 
lay upon her breast. He told them of his dream again, and that it was 
of her being restored to them, just as she used to be. He begged hard 
to see her, saying that he would be very quiet, and that they need not 
fear his being alarmed, for he had sat alone by his younger brother all 
day long when he was dead, and had felt glad to be so near him. They 
let him have his wish; and, indeed, he kept his word, and was, in his 
childish way, a lesson to them all. 



206 ESSENTIALS OF READING 

Up to that time, the old man had not spoken once, except to her — or 
stirred from the bedside. But when he saw her little favorite, he was 
moved as they had not seen him yet, and made as though he would have 
him come nearer. Then, pointing to the bed, he burst into tears for 
the first time, and they who stood by, knowing that the sight of this child 
had done him good, left them alone together. 

Soothing him with his artless talk of her, the child persuaded him to 
take some rest, to walk abroad, to do almost as he desired him. And, 
when the day came on which they must remove her, in her earthly shape, 
from earthly eyes forever, he led him away, that he might not know 
when she was taken from him. They were to gather fresh leaves and 
berries for her bed. 

And now the bell, the bell she had so often heard by night and day, 
and listened to with solemn pleasure, almost as a living voice, rung its 
remorseless toll for her, so young, so beautiful, so good. Decrepit age, 
and vigorous life, and blooming youth, and helpless infancy, poured 
forth — on crutches, in the pride of health and strength, in the full blush 
of promise, in the mere dawn of life — to gather round her tomb. Old 
men were there, whose eyes were dimmed and senses failing; grand- 
mothers, who might have died ten years ago, and still been old; the deaf, 
the blind, the lame, the palsied — the living dead, in many shapes and 
forms — to see the closing of that early grave. 

Along the crowded path they bore her now, pure as the newly-fallen 
snow that covered it, whose day on earth had been as fleeting. Under 
that porch where she had sat when Heaven in its mercy brought her to 
that peaceful spot, she passed again, and the old church received her 
in its quiet shade. 

They carried hjer to one old nook, where she had, many and many a 
time sat musing, and laid their burden softly on the pavement. The 
light streamed on it through the colored window, — a window where 
the boughs of trees were ever rustling in the summer, and where the 
birds sang sweetly all day long. With every breath of air that stirred 
among those branches in the sunshine, some trembling, changing light 
would fall upon her grave. 

Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Many a young hand 
dropped in its little wreath, many a stifled sob was heard. Some — and 
they were not few — knelt down. All were sincere and truthful in their 
sorrow. The service done, the mourners stood apart, and the villagers 
closed round to look into the grave, before the stone should be replaced. 

One called to mind how he had seen her sitting on that very spot, and 



NARRATIVE AND DESCRIPTIVE 207 

how her book had fallen on her lap, and she was gazing, with a pensive 
face, upon the sky. Another told how he had wondered much that one 
so delicate as she should be so bold, how she had never feared to enter 
the church alone at night, but had loved to linger there when all was 
quiet, and even to climb the tower-stair, with no more light than that of 
the moon-rays stealing through the loopholes in the thick old walls. 
A whisper went about among the oldest there that she had seen and 
talked with the angels; and when they called to mind how she had looked, 
and spoken, and her early^ death, some thought it might be so indeed. 
Thus coming to the grave in little knots, and glancing down, and 
giving place to others, and falling off in whispering groups of three or 
four, the church was cleared, in time, of all but the sexton and the mourn- 
ing friends. Then, when the dusk of evening had come on, and not a 
sound disturbed the sacred stillness of the place: when the bright 
moon poured in her light on tomb and monument, on pillar, wall and 
arch, and most of all, it seemed to them, upon her quiet grave; in that 
calm time, when all outward things and inward thoughts teem with 
assurances of immortality, and worldly hopes and fears are humbled in 
the dust before them, then, with tranquil and submissive hearts they 
turned away, and left the child with God. 

HOW THEY BROUGHT THE GOOD NEWS FROM 

GHENT TO AIX 

Robert Browning 

1. 

I sprang to the stirrup, and Joris, and he; 

I galloped, Dirck galloped, we galloped all three; 

"Good speed!" cried the watch, as the gate-bolts undrew; 

"Speed!" echoed the wall to us galloping through; 

Behind shut the postern, the lights sank to rest, 

And into the midnight we galloped abreast. 

II. 

Not a word to each other; we kept the great pace 
Neck by neck, stride by stride, never changing our place; 
I turned in my saddle and made its girths tight, 
Then shortened each stirrup, and set the pique right, 
Rebuckled the cheek-strap, chained slacker the bit, 
Nor galloped less steadily Roland a whit. 






208 ESSENTIALS OF READING 

in. 
'Twas moonset at starting; but, while we drew near 
Lokeren, the cocks crew, and twilight dawned clear; 
At Boom a great yellow star came out to see; 
At Duff eld, 'twas morning as plain as could be; 
And from Mecheln church-steeple we heard the half-chime, 
So Joris broke silence with, "Yet there is time!" 

IV. 

At Aershot, up leaped of a sudden the sun, 
And against him the cattle stood black every one 
To stare through the mist at us galloping past; 
And I saw my stout galloper Roland at last, 
With resolute shoulders, each butting away 
The haze, as some bluff river headland its spray: 

v. 
And his low head and crest, just one sharp ear bent back 
For my voice, and the other pricked out on his track; 
And one eye's black intelligence — ever that glance 
O'er its white edge at me, his own master, askance! 
And the thick heavy spume-flakes which aye and anon 
His fierce lips shook upwards in galloping on. 

VI. 

By Hasselt, Dirck groaned; and cried Joris, "Stay spur! 
Your Roos galloped bravely, the fault's not in her, 
We'll remember at Aix" — for one heard the quick wheeze 
Of her chest, saw the stretched neck and staggering knees 
And sunk tail, and horrible heave of the flank, 
As down on her haunches she shuddered and sank. 

VII. 

So, we were left galloping, Joris and I, 

Past Looz and past Tongres, no cloud in the sky; 

The broad sun above laughed a pitiless laugh, 

'Neath our feet broke the brittle bright stubble like chaff; 

Till over by Dalhem a dome-spire sprang white, 

And "Gallop," gasped Joris, "for Aix is in sight! 



NARRATIVE AND DESCRIPTIVE 209 

viii 
''How they'll greet us!" — and all in a moment his roan 
Rolled neck and croup over, lay dead as a stone; 
And there was my Roland to bear the whole weight 
Of the news which alone could save Aix from her fate, 
With his nostrils like pits full of blood to the brim, 
And with circles of red for his eyesockets' rim. 

IX. 

Then I cast loose my buffcoat, each holster let fall, 

Shook off both my jack-boots, let go belt and all, 

Stood up in the stirrup, leaned, patted his ear, 

Called my Roland his pet-name, my horse without peer; 

Clapped my hands, laughed and sang, any noise, bad or good, 

Till at length into Aix Roland galloped and stood. 

x. 

And all I remember is, friends flocking round 

As I sat with his head 'twixt my knees on the ground; 

And no voice but was praising this Roland of mine, 

As I poured down his throat our last measure of wine, 

Which (the burgesses voted by common consent) 

Was no more than his due who brought good news from Ghent. 



THE GRAY CHAMPION 

Nathaniel Hawthorne 

The following story from "Twice-Told Tales" is one characteristic 

of its author. It has the New England flavor and the weird element 

so pronounced in Hawthorne's writings. It would be well to look 

up the historical incidents upon which the tale is founded. 

There was once a time when New England groaned under the actual 
pressure of heavier wrongs than those threatened ones which brought on 
the Revolution. James II., the bigoted successor of Charles the Volup- 
tuous, had annulled the charters of all the colonies, and sent a harsh and 
unprincipled soldier to take away our liberties and endanger our religion. 
The administration of Sir Edmund Andros lacked scarcely a single 
characteristic of tyranny: a Governor and Council, holding office from 
the King and wholly independent of the country; laws made and taxes 



2io ESSENTIALS OF READING 

levied without concurrence of the people, immediate or by their repre- 
sentatives; the rights of private citizens violated, and the titles of all 
landed property declared void; the voice of complaint stifled by restrictions 
on the press; and, finally, disaffection overawed by the first band of mer- 
cenary troops that ever marched on our free soil. For two years our 
ancestors were kept in sullen submission, by that filial love which had 
invariably secured their allegiance to the mother-country, whether its 
head chanced to be a Parliament, Protector, or popish Monarch. Till 
these evil times, however, such allegiance had been merely nominal, and 
the colonists had ruled themselves, enjoying far more freedom than is 
even yet the privilege of the native subjects of Great Britain. 

At length a rumor reached our shores that the Prince of Orange had 
ventured on an enterprise the success of which would be the triumph of 
civil and religious rights and the salvation of New England. It was but 
a doubtful whisper; it might be false, or the attempt might fail; and, in 
either case, the man that stirred against King James would lose his 
head. Still the intelligence produced a marked effect. The people 
smiled mysteriously in the streets, and threw bold glances at their 
oppressors; while far and wide there was a subdued and silent agitation, 
as if the slightest signal would rouse the whole land from its sluggish 
despondency. Aware of their danger, the rulers resolved to avert it by 
an imposing display of strength, and perhaps to confirm their despotism 
by yet harsher measures. One afternoon in April, 1689, Sir Edmund 
Andros and his favorite councillors, being warm with wine, assembled 
the red-coats of the Governor's Guard, and made their appearance in 
the streets of Boston. The sun was near setting when the march 
commenced. 

The roll of the drum, at that unquiet crisis, seemed to go through 
the streets less as the martial music of the soldiers than as a muster-call 
to the inhabitants themselves. A multitude, by various avenues, assem- 
bled in King-street, which was destined to be the scene, nearly a 
century afterwards, of another encounter between the troops of Bri- 
tain and a people struggling against her tyranny. Though more 
than sixty years had elapsed since the Pilgrims came, this crowd of their 
descendants still showed the strong and sombre features of their character 
perhaps more strikingly in such a stern emergency than on happier 
occasions. There were the sober garb, the general severity of mien, 
the gloomy but undismayed expression, the scriptural forms of speech 
and the confidence in Heaven's blessing on a righteous cause, which 
would have marked a band of the original Puritans when threatened 



NARRATIVE AND DESCRIPTIVE 211 

by some peril of the wilderness. Indeed, it was not yet time for 
the old spirit to be extinct; since there were men in the street, that day 
who had worshipped there beneath the trees, before a house was reared 
to the God for whom they had become exiles Old soldiers of the 
Parliament were here too, smiling grimly at the thought that their aged 
arms might strike another blow against the house of Stuart. Here, also, 
were the veterans of King Philip's war, who had burned villages and 
slaughtered young and old with pious fierceness, while the godly souls 
throughout the land were helping them with prayer. Several ministers 
were scattered among the crowd which, unlike all other mobs regarded 
them with such reverence, as if there were sanctity in their very garments. 
These holy men exerted their influence to quiet the people, but not to 
disperse them. Meantime, the purpose of the Governor, in disturbing 
the peace of the town at a period when the slightest commotion might 
throw the country into a ferment, was almost the universal subject of 
inquiry, and variously explained. 

"Satan will strike his master-stroke presently," cried some, "because 
he knoweth that his time is short. All our godly pastors are to be dragged 
to prison! We shall see them at a Smithfield fire in King-street!" 

Hereupon, the people of each parish gathered closer round their 
minister, who looked calmly upwards and assumed a more apostolic 
dignity, as well befitted a candidate for the highest honor of his profession, 
the crown of marytrdom. It was actually fancied, at that period, that 
New England might have a John Rogers of her own, to take the place of 
that worthy in the Primer. 

"The Pope of Rome has given orders for a new St. Bartholomew! " 
cried others. "We are to be massacred, man and male child!" 

Neither was this rumor wholly discredited, although the wiser class 
believed the Governor's object somewhat less atrocious. His predecessor 
under the old charter, Bradstreet, a venerable companion of the first 
settlers, was known to be in town. There were grounds for conjecturing 
that Sir Edmund Andros intended, at once, to strike terror, by a parade 
of military force, and to confound the opposite faction, by possessing 
himself of their chief. 

"Stand firm for the old charter Governor!" shouted the crowd, seizing 
upon the idea. "The good old Governor Bradstreet!" 

While this cry was at the loudest, the people were surprised by the 
well-known figure of Governor Bradstreet himself, a patriarch of nearly 
ninety, who appeared on the elevated steps of a door, and, with char- 
acteristic mildness, besought them to submit to the constituted authorities. 



212 ESSENTIALS OF READING 

"My children," concluded this venerable person, " do nothing rashly. 
Cry not aloud, but pray for the welfare of New England, and expect 
patiently what the Lord will do in this matter!" 

The event was soon to be decided. All this time, the roll of the 
drum had been approaching through Cornhill, louder and deeper, till 
with reverberations from house to house, and the regular tramp of 
martial footsteps, it burst into the street. A double rank of soldiers 
made their appearance, occupying the whole breadth of the passage, 
with shouldered matchlocks, and matches burning, so as to present a 
row of fires in the dusk Their steady march was like the progress of a 
machine that would roll irresistibly over everything in its way. Next, 
moving slowly, with a confused clatter of hoofs on the pavement, rode a 
party of mounted gentlemen, the central figure being Sir Edmund Andros, 
elderly, but erect and soldier-like Those around him were his favorite 
councillors, and the bitterest foes of New England. At his right hand 
rode Edward Randolph, our arch-enemy, that "blasted wretch," as 
Cotton Mather calls him, who achieved the downfall of our ancient 
government, and was followed with a sensible curse, through life and to 
his grave. On the other side was Bullivant, scattering jests and mockery 
as he rode along. Dudley came behind, with a downcast look, dreading, 
as well he might, to meet the indignant gaze of the people, who beheld 
him, their only countryman by birth, among the oppressors of his native 
land. The captain of a frigate in the harbor, and two or three civil 
officers under the Crown, were also there. But the figure which most 
attracted the public eye, and stirred up the deepest feeling, was the 
Episcopal clergyman of King's Chapel, riding haughtily among the 
magistrates in his priestly vestments, the fitting representative of prelacy 
and persecution, the union of church and state, and all those abominations 
which had driven the Puritans to the wilderness. Another guard of 
soldiers, in double rank, brought up the rear. 

The whole scene was a picture of the condition of New England; and 
its moral, the deformity of any government that does not grow out of the 
nature of things and the character of the people. On one side, the 
religious multitude, with their sad visages and dark attire; and on the 
other, the group of despotic rulers, with the high-churchman in the 
midst, and here and there a crucifix at their bosoms, all magnificently clad, 
flushed with wine, proud of unjust authority, and scoffing at the universal 
groan. And the mercenary soldiers, waiting but the word to deluge the 
street with blood, showed the only means by which obedience could be 
secured. 



NARRATIVE AND DESCRIPTIVE 213 

"O Lord of Hosts," cried a voice among the crowd, "provide a 
Champion for thy people!" 

This ejaculation was loudly uttered, and served as a herald's cry, to 
introduce a remarkable personage. The crowd had rolled back, and 
were now huddled together nearly at the extremity of the street, while 
the soldiers had advanced no more than a third of its length. The 
intervening space was empty — a paved solitude, between lofty edifices 
which threw almost a twilight shadow over it. Suddenly there was seen 
the figure of an ancient man, who seemed to have emerged from among 
the people, and was walking by himself along the centre of the street, to 
confront the armed band. He wore the old Puritan dress, a dark cloak 
and a steeple-crowned hat, in the fashion of at least fifty years before, 
with a heavy sword upon his thigh, but a staff in his hand, to assist the 
tremulous gait of age. 

When at some distance from the multitude, the old man turned slowly 
round, displaying a face of antique majesty, rendered doubly venerable 
by the hoary beard that descended on his breast. He made a gesture at 
once of encouragement and warning, then turned again and resumed his 
way. 

"Who is this gray patriarch ?" asked the young men of their sires. 

"Who is this venerable brother?" asked the old men among themselves. 

But none could make reply. The fathers of the people, those of 
fourscore years and upwards, were disturbed, deeming it strange that 
they should forget one of such evident authority, whom they must have 
known in their early days, the associate of Winthrop, and all the old 
Councillors, giving laws and making prayers, and leading them against 
the savage. The elderly men ought to have remembered him, too, with 
locks as gray in their youth as their own were now. And the young! 
How could he have passed so utterly from their memories — that hoary 
sire, the relic of long-departed times, whose awful benediction had surely 
been bestowed on their uncovered heads in childhood ? 

"Whence did he come? What is his purpose? Who can this old 
man be? "whispered the wondering crowd. 

Meanwhile, the venerable stranger, staff in hand, was pursuing his 
solitary walk along the centre of the street. As he drew near the advanc- 
ing soldiers, and as the roll of their drum came full upon his ear, the old 
man raised himself to a loftier mien, while the decrepitude of age seemed 
to fall from his shoulders, leaving him in gray but unbroken dignity. 
Now he marched onward with a warrior's step, keeping time to the 
military music. Thus the aged form advanced on one side, and the 



214 ESSENTIALS OF READING 

whole parade of soldiers and magistrates on the other, till, when scarcely 
twenty yards remained between, the old man grasped his staff by the 
middle, and held it before him like a leader's truncheon. 

"Stand!" cried he. 

The eye, the face, and attitude of command; the solemn yet war-like 
peal of that voice, fit either to rule a host in the battle-field or be raised 
to God in prayer, were irresistible. At the old man's word and out- 
stretched arm, the roll of the drum was hushed at once, and the advancing 
line stood still. A tremulous enthusiasm seized upon the multitude. 
That stately form, combining the leader and the saint, so gray, so dimly 
seen, in such an ancient garb, could only belong to some old champion 
of the righteous cause, whom the oppressor's drum had summoned from 
his grave, 'i 'hey raised a shout of awe and exultation, and looked for 
the deliveranc e of New England. 

The Goven or, and the gentlemen of his party, perceiving themselves 
brought to an unexpected stand, rode hastily forward, as if they would 
have pressed tt eir snorting and affrighted horses right against the hoary 
apparition. Hi , however, blenched not a step, but glancing his severe 
eye round the gi oup, which half encompassed him, at last bent it sternly 
on Sir Edmund Andros. One would have thought that the dark old 
man was chief ruler there, and that the Governor and Council, with 
soldiers at their back, representing the whole power and authority of the 
Crown, had no alternative but obedience. 

"What does this old fellow here?" cried Edward Randolph, fiercely. 
'On, Sir Edmund! Bid the soldiers forward, and give the dotard the 
same choice that you give all his countrymen — to stand aside or be 
trampled on!" 

"Nay, nay, let us show respect to the good grandsire," said Bullivant, 
laughing. "See you not, he is some old round-headed dignitary who 
hath lain asleep these thirty years and knows nothing of the change of 
times? Doubtless, he thinks to put us down with a proclamation in 
Old Noll's name!" 

"Are you mad, old man?" demanded Sir Edmund Andros, in loud 
and harsh tones. "How dare you stay the march of King James's 
Governor?" 

"I have staid the march of a King himself, ere now," replied the gray 
figure, with stern composure. 

" I am here, Sir Governor, because the cry of an oppressed people hath 
disturbed me in my secret place; and beseeching this favor earnestly of 
the Lord, it was vouchsafed me to appear once again on earth, in the 



NARRATIVE AND DESCRIPTIVE 215 

good old cause of his saints. And what speak ye of James ? There is 
no longer a popish tyrant on the throne of England, and by to-morrow 
noon his name shall be a by-word in this very street where ye would make 
it a word of terror. Back, thou that wast a Governor, back! With this 
night thy power is ended — to-morrow, the prison! — back, lest I foretell 
the scaffold!" 

The people had been drawing nearer and nearer, and drinking in the 
words of their champion, who spoke in accents long disused, like one 
unaccustomed to converse, except with the dead of many years ago. 
But his voice stirred their souls. They confronted the soldiers, not 
wholly without arms, and ready to convert the very stones of the street 
into deadly weapons. Sir Edmund Andros looked at the old man; then 
he cast his hard and cruel eye over the multitude, and beheld them burn- 
ing with that lurid wrath, so difficult to kindle or to quench; and again he 
fixed his gaze on the aged form, which stood obscurely in an open space, 
where neither friend nor foe had thrust himself. What were his thoughts, 
he uttered no word which might discover. But whether the oppressor 
were overawed by the Gray Champion's look, or perceived his peril in 
the threatening attitude of the people, it is certain that he gave back, 
and ordered his soldiers to commence a slow and guarded retreat. Before 
another sunset, the Governor, and all that rode so proudly with him, 
were prisoners, and long ere it was known that James had abdicated, 
King William was proclaimed throughout New England. 

But where was the Gray Champion? Some reported that when the 
troops had gone from King-street and the people were thronging tumult- 
uously in their rear, Bradstreet, the aged Governor, was seen to embrace 
a form more aged than his own. Others soberly affirmed that while 
they marvelled at the venerable grandeur of his aspect, the old man had 
faded from their eyes, melting slowly into the hues of twilight, till, where 
he stood, there was an empty space. But all agreed that the hoary 
shape was gone. The men of that generation watched for his reappear- 
ance, in sunshine and in twilight, but never saw him more, nor knew 
when his funeral passed, nor where his gravestone was. 

And who was the Gray Champion? Perhaps his name might be 
found in the records of that stern Court of Justice which passed a sentence 
too mighty for the age, but glorious in all after-times for its humbling 
lesson to the monarch and its high example to the subject. I have 
heard that whenever the descendants of the Puritans are to show the 
spirit of their sires, the old man appears again. When eighty years had 
passed he walked once more in King-street. Five years later, in the 



2i6 ESSENTIALS OF READING 

twilight of an April morning, he stood on the green, beside the meeting- 
house, at Lexington, where now the obelisk of granite, with a slab of slate 
inlaid, commemorates the first fallen of the Revolution. And when our 
fathers were toiling at the breastwork on Bunker's Hill, all through that 
night the old warrior walked his rounds. Long, long may it be ere he 
comes again! His hour is one of darkness, and adversity, and peril. 
But should domestic tyranny oppress us, or the invader's step pollute 
our soil, still may the Gray Champion come: for he is the type of New 
England's hereditary spirit, and his shadowy march, on the eve of danger, 
must ever be the pledge that New England's sons will vindicate their 
ancestry. 



CHAPTER XIX 

HUMOROUS 

A CURTAIN LECTURE 
Douglas Jerrold 

Well, that's the third umbrella gone since Christmas. What were you 
to do ? Why, let him go home in the rain, to be sure. I am very certain 
he wouldn't spoil. Take cold indeed? He doesn't look like one of 
the sort to take cold. Besides he'd have better taken cold than taken 
our umbrella. 

Do you hear the rain, Mr. Caudle ? I say, do you hear the rain ? 
And, as I'm alive, if it isn't St. Swithin's day! Do you hear it against 
the windows? Nonsense! you don't impose upon me; you can't be 
asleep with such a shower as that. Do you hear it I say ? O, you do 
hear it? Well, that's a pretty flood, I think to last six weeks; and no 
stirring all the time out of the house. Pooh! don't think me a fool, Mr. 
Caudle; don't insult me; he return the umbrella! Anybody would 
think you were born yesterday. As if anybody ever did return an 
umbrella! 

There, do you hear it? Worse and worse. Cats and dogs, and for 
six weeks: always six weeks; and no umbrella. I should like to know 
how the children are to go to school tomorrow. They shan't go through 
such weather; I am determined. No, they shall stop at home and 
never learn anything, (the blessed creatures) sooner than go and get wet. 
And when they grow up, I wonder who they'll have to thank for knowing 
nothing; who, indeed, but their father? People who can't feel for their 
own children ought never to be fathers. 

But I know why you lent the umbrella; oh, yes I know very well. I 
was going out to tea at dear mother's tomorrow; you knew that, and 
you did it on purpose. Don't tell me! you hate to have me go there and 
take every mean advantage to hinder me. But don't you think it, Mr. 
Caudle; no, sir; if it comes down in buckets full, I'll go all the more. 
No and I won't have a cab! Where do you think the money's to come 
from? You've got nice high notions at that club of yours! 

A cab, indeed! Cost me sixteen-pence at least. Sixteen-pence! 
two — and eight-pence; for there's back again. Cabs, indeed! I should 

217 



218 ESSENTIALS OF READING 

like to know who's to pay for 'em; for I'm sure you can't if you go on 
as you do, throwing away your property, and beggaring your children, 
buying umbrellas. 

Do you hear the rain, Mr. Caudle? I say do you hear it? But I 
don't care, I'll go to mother's tomorrow, I will; and whats more, I'll 
walk every step of the way; and you know that will give me my death. 
Don't call me a foolish woman; its you that's a foolish man. 

You know I can't wear clogs; and with no umbrella, the wet's sure to 
give me a cold; it always does; but what do you care for that ? Nothing 
at all. I may be laid up for what you care, as I dare say I shall; and a 
pretty doctor's bill there'll be. I hope there will. It will teach you to 
lend your umbrellas again. I shouldn't wonder if I caught my death; 
yes, and that's what you lent the umbrella for. Of course. 

Nice clothes I get too, traipsing through weather like this. My 
gown and bonnet will be spoiled quite. Needn't wear 'em then? In- 
deed, Mr. Caudle, I shall wear 'em. No, sir; I'm not going out a dowdy, 
to please you, or anybody else. Gracious knows! it isn't often that I 
step over the threshold; indeed I might as well be a slave at once; better 
I should say; but when I do go out, Mr. Caudle, I choose to go as a 
lady. 

O, that rain — if it isn't enough to break in the windows! Ugh! I 
look forward with dread for tomorrow. How I am to go to mother's, 
I am sure I can't tell; but if I die, I'll do it. No, sir; I won't borrow 
an umbrella — no, and you shant buy one. Mr. Caudle, if you bring 
home another umbrella, I'll throw it into the street. Ha! and it was 
only last week, I had a new nozzle put on that umbrella. I'm sure if 
I'd have known as much as I do now, it might have gone without one. 
Paying for new nozzles for other people to laugh at you. 

O, it's all very well for you; you can go to sleep. You've no thought 
of your poor patient wife, and your own dear children; you think of 
nothing but lending umbrellas! Men, indeed! — call themselves lords 
of creation! pretty lords, when they can't even take care of an umbrella! 

I know that walk tomorrow will be the death of me. But that's what 
you want: then you may go to your club, and do as you like; and then 
nicely my poor, dear children will be used — but then sir, then you'll be 
happy. Yes, when your poor, patient wife is dead and gone, then 
you'll marry that mean little widow Quilp, I know you will. 



HUMOROUS 219 



WHITEWASHING THE FENCE 

Mark Twain 

In this extract from "Tom Sawyer," Tom is shown in a dilemma. He 
wants to go swimming, but he must whitewash the fence. At first he 
fears the ridicule of the boys, but he hits upon a plan. 

One of the boys, Ben Rogers, comes by and pauses, eating a particular- 
ly fine apple. Tom does not see him. Ben stares a moment, and then 
says: 

"Hi-yi! you're up a stump, ain't you?" 

No answer. Tom surveyed his last touch with the eye of an artist, 
then he gave another gentle sweep, and surveyed the result as before. 
Ben ranged up alongside of him. Tom's mouth watered for the apple, 
but he stuck to his work. Ben said: 

"Hello, old chap, you got to work, hey?" 

"Why, it's you, Ben; I wasn't noticing." 

"Say, I'm going in a-swimming, I am. Don't you wish you could? 
But of course you'd ruther work, wouldn't you? Course you would!" 

Tom comtemplated the boy a bit and said: 

"What do you call work?" 

"Why, ain't that work?" 

Tom resumed his whitewashing and answered, carelessly: 

"Well, may be it is, and may be it ain't. All I know is, it suits Tom 
Sawyer." 

"Oh, come now, you don't mean to let on that you like it?" 

The brush continued to move. 

"Like it? Well, I don't see why I oughtn't to like it. Does a boy 
get a chance to whitewash a fence every day?" 

That put the thing in a new light. Ben stopped nibbling his apple. 
Tom swept his brush daintily back and forth — stepped back to note the 
effect — added a touch here and there — criticised the effect again, Ben 
watching every move, and getting more and more interested, more and 
more absorbed. Presently he said: 

"Say, Tom, let me whitewash a little." 

Tom considered, was about to consent, — but he altered his mind. 

"No, no; I reckon it wouldn't hardly do, Ben. You see, Aunt Polly's 
awful particular about this fence, — right here on the street, you know, — 
but if it was the back fence I wouldn't mind, and she wouldn't. Yes, 
she's awful particular about this fence; it's got to be done very careful. 



220 ESSENTIALS OF READING 

I reckon there ain't one boy in a thousand, maybe two thousand, that 
can do it in the way it's got to be done. 

"No, — is that so? Oh, come now; lemme just try, only just a little. 
I'd let you, if you was me, Tom." 

"Ben, I'd like to, honest Injun; but Aunt Polly — well, Jim wanted to 
do it, but she wouldn't let him. Sid wanted to do it, but she wouldn't 
let Sid. Now don't you see how I'm fixed? If you was to tackle this 
fence, and anything was to happen to it — " 

"Oh, shucks! I'll be just as careful. Now lemme try. Say — I'll 
give you the core of my apple." 

"Well, here. No, Ben; now don't; I'm afeard — " 

"I'll give you all of it!" 

Tom gave up ;he brush with reluctance in his face but alacrity in his 
heart. And while Ben worked and sweated in the sun, the retired artist 
sat on a barrel in the shade close by, dangling his legs, munched 
his apple, and planned the slaughter of more innocents. There was no 
lack of material; boys happened along every little while; they came to 
jeer, but remained to whitewash. By the time Ben was fagged out, 
Tom had traded the next chance to Billy Fisher for a kite in good repair; 
and when he played out, Johnny Miller bought it for a dead rat and a 
string to swing it with; and so on, and so on, hour after hour. And when 
the middle of the afternoon came, from being a poor, poverty-stricken boy 
in the morning, Tom was literally rolling in wealth. He had, besides the 
things I have mentioned, twelve marbles, part of a Jew's harp, a piece of 
blue bottle-glass to look through, a spool cannon, a key that wouldn't 
unlock anything, a fragment of chalk, a glass stopper of a decanter, a 
tin soldier, a couple of tadpoles, six fire-crackers, a kitten with only one 
eye, a brass door-knob, a dog-collar, — but no dog, — the handle of a 
knife, four pieces of orange-peel, and a dilapidated old window sash. He 
had had a nice, good, idle time all the while 1 — plenty of company — and 
the fence had three coats of whitewash on it! If he hadn't run out of 
whitewash, he would have bankrupted every boy in the village. 

Tom said to himself that it was not such a hollow world after all. He 
had discovered a great law of human action without knowing it, namely, 
that in order to make a man or a boy covet a thing, it is only necessary 
to make it difficult to attain. 



INDEX 



" Abraham Lincoln," Fowler, 180 

Accent and emphasis, 139 

Acting, 34 

Action, child's love of, 80 

Allegory, 53 

Alphabet method, 77 

Alternating program, 105 

Aspirate, definition, 152 
exercise, 158 
assigned work, 102 

Assignment, " The Lark and the 
Farmer," 103 
model, 103 
of lesson, 99 
of lesson, careless, 9 
"Village Blacksmith," 103 

Analysis of pitch and melody 
28 

of words in primary read- 
ing, 86 

Apostrophe, 57 

Arnold, Matthew, quoted, 59 

Articulation, 150 

aspirate, 152, 158 

b, 153 
bs, 158 
ch, 155 

commerical value, 150 
d, 154 

dentals, 152, 154 
' ds, 158 
example, 150 



22 



Articulation, exercises, 153 
f,i53 
g, 156 
g,or j, 155 
g, ork, 156 
gs, 158 
h,i58 

hard combinations, 158 
L or g, 155 
k, or g, 156 
ks, or x, 159 

1,157 

labials, 152, 153 

liquids, 152, 157 

long words, 160 

m, 154 

method of instruction, 152 

n, 157 

nasals, 152, 157 

ng, 157 

P, 153 

palatals, 152, 156 

ps, 159 

r, 158 

review and suggestions, 

i6 S 
outline, 164 

s, 155 

s, orz, 155 

sh, 156 

similar sounds, 161 
st, 159 

I 



222 



INDEX 



Articulation, systematic exer- 
cises, 151 
t, 154 
th, 156 

v, 154 
w, 154 
wh, 159 
x, or ks, 159 

y. 157 

z, or s, 155 

zh, 160 
Atmosphere, examples of, 45 

of a selection, 45 
"Barbara Frietchie," 15, 36, 185 
" Barefoot Boy," quoted, 44 
Barrie, quoted, 72 
" Battle Hymn of the Republic," 

9 

Bennett, Harry Holcomb, quot- 
ed, 38 

" Black Sheep," dramatized, 93 

Book as an obstacle, 124 

Browning, -'How They Brought 
the Good News from Ghent to 
Aix," 207 

Browning, quoted, 63 

Bryan, "Power and Worth of 
Character," 173 

Bryant, quoted, 59 

Busy work in primary reading, 

84 

Byron, quoted, 42 

Careless assignment of lesson, 9 

" Chambered Nautilus," quoted, 

60 
Character, effects of, 65 
Chicago Tribune, quoted, 1 50 
" Chicken Little," 136 
Circumstance, commonplace, 5 
Circumflex inflection, 28 

inflection and contrast, 24 



Classification of Material, 108 
of material, outline 120 
of material, review and 
suggestions, 121 
Commonplace circumstance, 5 
Completeness, momentary 29 
Contrast, and circumflex inflec- 
tion, 24 

emphasis 24 
Conversation, melody in, 26 
" Cortin', The," 68 
Correct habits, 20 
" Count Gismond," quoted, 63 
Course in primary reading, 88 
" Crossing the Bar," 30 
Cumnock, Prof., incident, 44 
" Curfew tolls the knell of part- 
ing day," 2, 175 
" Curtain Lecture," Jerrold, 217 
" Death of Little Nell," Dickens, 

202 
Declaiming, 34 
Degree, effects of, 66 
Dentals, definition, 152 

exercises, 154 
Desire to read, 80 
Development of new ideas, 100 
Dialect selections, 68 
Dickens, "Death of Little Nell," 

202 
Dickens, quoted, 6, 72 
Dictionary, abbreviations, 145 

definitions, 101 

how to use, 146 

Italian 'a,' 143 

key to symbols, 141 

long sounds, 143 

prefixes and suffixes, 145 

rules for spelling, 145 

short o, 144 

short vowels, I43> H4 

study of alphabet, 142 



INDEX 



223 



Dictionary, suspended bar, 143 
table of contents, 141 
use of, 140 
use of, outline, 148 
use of, review and sug- 
gestion, 149 
Didactic and moral selections, 

169 
Difference between declaiming 

and reading, 35 
Directions, mechanical, 8 
Discipline and melody, 26 
Divisions of reading recitations, 

98 
Division of recitation and as- 
signment of lesson, outline, 
106 

review and suggestions, 
106 
Division of room, 104 
" Don't know line, The," 113 
Dramatic selections, 184 
Dramatization, "Black Sheep," 

93 

"Flower Girl, The," 91 
"Lady Moon," 90 
"Little Boy Blue," 90 
" Little Red Hen, The," 94 
" Milk-maid, The," 91 
"Monologue and," 93 
"Neighbors, The," 91 
in primary reading, 89 
"Three Crows, The," 93 
"Three Kittens, The," 92 
"Willy Boy," 91 

Eclectic Method, 80 

Effects, 63 

classified, 65, 6b 
defined, 64 
exercises, 67, 72 
of character, 65 



Effects, of degree, 66 
of incident, 65 
of kind, 66 
of mood, 65 
outline, 73 
review and suggestions, 

73 

"Elegy Written in a Country 
Churchyard," 46, 175 

Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, quoted, 
29 

Emerson, quoted, 41 

Emotion, and emphasis, 139 
determines quality, 40 

Emotional words, 102 

Emphasis, and accent, 139 
and emotion, 139 
and grouping, 15 
and main idea, 22 
and new ideas, 23 
and personal pronouns, 23 
example of, 25 
of contrast, 139 
too many words, 24 

Examples, atmosphere, 45 

effects, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67 
emphasis, 24, 128, 133, 135 
force, 37, 38 
grouping, 15, 16, 17 
melody, 25, 27, 30, 128, 

I33» 135 

quality, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 
46 

time, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11 

types, 51, 52, 58, 59, 60 
Exercises, effects, 68-73 

figures, 58, 59 

grouping, 15 

obstacles to good expres- 
sion, 131 
Experiential words, 102 



224 



INDEX 



Expression, and questions, 22, 

obstacles to good, 122 
Expressive reading, time to 

begin, 20 
Eye, training the, 118 
Fables, 54 

Falling inflection, 27, 30 
Figures, of speech, 52 

allegory, 53 

apostrophe, 57 

exercises, 57 

fables, 54 

metaphor, 52 

metonymy, 56 

parables, 54 

personification, 56 

simile, 53 

synecdoche, 56 
Final stress, 35 
" Flag Goes By, The," 38 
" Flower Girl, The," dramatized, 

91 
Force, 34 

emphasis, 139 

examples, 37 

outline of, 39 
Foreign-born child and time, 9 
Fowler, Chas., "Abraham Lin- 
coln," 180 
Function of melody, 19 

of reading, 35 
" Gettysburg Address," Lincoln, 

179 
Grammar grade pupil and 

groups, 14 
Good expression, how to get, 20 

obstacles to, 122 
"Glaucus and the Lion," Bul- 

wer Lytton, 191 
Grady, "The Southern Soldier," 

181 



" Gray Champion," Hawthorne. 

209 
Gray, "Elegy Written in a Coun- 
try Churchyard," 175 
Gray, quoted, 46 
Groups and grammar grade pu- 
pil, 14 

and inflection, 14 

and intermediate pupils, 
14 

and primary pupils, 14 

words in, 13 
Grouping, 13 

and emphasis, 15 

and liberty of thought, 15 

and punctuation, 13 

and thought, 13 

exercise, 15 

marking, 16 

purpose of, 13 

rules, 15 

Guerber, H. A., quoted, 37 
Habits, correct, 20 
Harry Holcomb Bennett, quoted, 

38 
Hawthorne, "The Gray Cham- 
pion," 209 
Hawthorne, quoted, 72 
Heath Readers, quoted, 37 
High key, 28 
Holmes, quoted, 41, 60 
"House that Jack Built," 132 
Howe, Julia Ward, quoted, 10 
How They Brought the Good 
News from Ghent to Aix, 
Browning, 207 
How to get good expression, 20 
Hugo, Victor, quoted, 44, 72 
Humorous selections, 217 
" Ichabod Crane," Irving, 200 
Idea, main, 19 



INDEX 



225 



Ideals, wrong, children's, 123 
Ideas, development of new, 100 

succession of, 29 
" I galloped, Dirck galloped," 5 
Illustrative Lessons, 132 
Imitation, in acting and de- 
claiming, 35 

of teacher, 22 
Importance of mechanics of 

reading, 3 
"Importance of Teaching and 
Value of Right Ideals," Roose- 
velt, 169 
Importance of thought in read- 
ing, 3 
Incident, effects of, 65 
Inference, 64 
Inflection, and groups, 14 

at end of sentence, 26 

circumflex, 28 

circumflex and contrast, 24 

falling, 28 

rising, 28 
Initiative in study, 112 
Intermediate pupil and groups, 

14 

Interpreting melody, 27 

Irony, 27 

Irving, " Ichabod Crane, 200 

quoted, 72 
Jerrold, "A Curtain Lecture," 217 
" John Adams' Speech," 7 
Julia Ward Howe, quoted, 10 
Kind, effects of, 66 
Key, 28 

" Knights' Chorus," 45 
Knowledge of mechanics of 

reading, 3 
Labials, definition, 1 52 

exercises, 153 
" Lady Moon," dramatized, 90 



"Lady of Shalott," Tennyson, 

196 
" L'Allegro," quoted, 45 
Language exercises as obsta- 
cles, 129 
" Lark and the Farmer," assign- 
ment, 103 
" Larks* Nest," The, 25 
Largeness of thought, 4 
Length of lesson, 100 
Lesson, assignment of, 99 

careless assignment of, 9 

illustrative, 132 

length of, 100 

selection of, 99 

unity, 23 
"Liberty and Union," 182 
Liberty of thought, 1 5 
Lincoln, quoted, 42 
Lincoln, " Gettysburg Address," 

179 
Liquids, definition, 1 52 

exercises, 157 
Lists of words as obstacles, 129 
" Little Boy Blue," dramatized, 90 
" Little Nell, Death of," 5, 202 
"Little Red Hen," dramatized, 

94 
"Lochinvar," Scott, 184 
Longfellow, quoted, 16, 58, 59 
Longfellow, " Paul Revere's 

Ride," 187 
Look and say method, 31 
Looking for main ideas, 22 
Lowell, quoted, 68, 73 
Low key, 28 
McDonald, quoted, 72 
Main idea, 19 

and emphasis, 19 
looking for, 4 
Marietta Holley, quoted, 5 



226 



INDEX 



Marking groups, 16 

Mark Twain, " Whitewashing 

the Fence," 219 
Material, classification of, 108 

difficult, 113 

for quick reading, 1 1 1 

for repeated reading, no 

for sight reading, 115 

for thorough study, 108 

interest, 109 

kinds, 108 

quantity, 116 
McMurray, Frank, quoted, 112 
Mechanical difficulty, as ob- 
stacle, 124 
Mechanical directions, 8 
Mechanical teacher, 13 
Mechanics of reading, 3 

knowledge of, 3 
Median stress, 35 
Melody, 19 

analysis, 28 

and motive, 27 

and discipline, 27 

function, 19 

in conversation, 26 

interpreting, 28 

motive necessary, 27 
Mental attitude, 126 
Mental energy, 35 
Metaphor, 52 
Method, alphabet, 77 

eclectic, 80 

phonic, 78 

sentence, 79 

word, 79 
Metonymy, 56 

" Milk-maid," dramatized, 91 
Milton, quoted, 45 
" Mine eyes have seen the 
glory," 10 



Model assignment, 103 
Momentary completeness, 29 
Monologue and dramatization, 93 
Mood, effects of, 65 
Mother Goose's rhymes, 4 
Motive, and melody, 26 
of speaker, 19, 29 
Movement of voice, 19 
Narrative and descriptive selec- 
tions, 196 
Nasals, definition, 152 

exercises, 157 
Nationality and time, 9 
" Neighbors," dramatized, 91 
New ideas, and emphasis, 23 

development, 100 
New words, development of, 100 

too many, 9 
Number lessons, as obstacles, 

127 
Obstacles to good expression, 
122 

book, the, 124 
language exercises, 129 
lists of words, 129 
mechanical difficulties, 

124 
mental attitude, 126, 127 
number lessons, 127 
principles of oral reading, 
127 

relation of words, 125 

review and suggestion, 130 

outline, 130 
Oral reading, principles of, 127 
Oratorical selections, 179 
Order of sounds in primary 

reading, 87 
Outline, articulation, 164 

classification of material, 
120 



INDEX 



227 



Outline, division of recitation 
and assignment of les- 
son, 106 

effects, 73 

force, 39 

grouping, 18 

melody, 32 

obstacles to good expres- 
sion, 130 

primary reading, 96 

quality, 46 

time, 11 

types, 61 

use of dictionary, 148 
Parables, 54 
Palatals, definition, 152 

exercises, 156 
Patronizing melody, 26 
"Paul Revere's Ride," Longfel- 
low, 187 
Pauses, 13 
Personification, 56 
Phelps, Elizabeth Stuart, 

quoted, 29 
Phonic method, 78 
Phonics, 85 
Phrases, poetic, 102 
Pitch, 19 

analysis, 28 
Poetic words, 102 
"Power and Worth of Charac- 
ter," Bryan, 173 
Primary pupil and groups, 14 
Primary reading, 77 

aims, 80 

analysis of words, 86 

busy, work, 84 

course, 88 

desire to read, 81 

dramatization, 89 

order of sounds, 87 



Primary reading, outline, 96 

phonics, 85 

principles, 80 

review and suggestion, 96 

script to print, 87 

sentences, 83 

words, 81 

writing in, 84 
Primary slide, 87 
Principles, of oral reading, 127 

of primary reading, 80 
Print, transition from script, 

87 
Program, alternating, 105 
Pronouns, personal and em- 
phasis, 23 
Punctuation and grouping, 13 
Pupil and groups, 14 
Purpose, of grouping, 13 

of teacher in a lesson* 

99 
Quality, aspirate, 43 

bright, ringing, 41 

complex, 43 

dark, sombre, 41 

defined, 40 

examples, 41 

guttural, 42 

indicates emotion, 40 

normal, 41 

of emotion, 4 

orotund, 42 

outline, 46 

review and suggestion, 47 
Questions and expression, 22 
Radical stress, 35 
Ralph Connor, quoted, 6 
Rapid time, examples, 4, 5, 6 
Rapid utterance, 5 
Read, Thomas Buchanan, quot- 
ed, 41 



228 



INDEX 



Readers, supplementary, 104, 

119 
Reading, declaiming, acting, 35 
function of, 35 
sight, 119 

supplementary, 104, 119 
tone, 122 
too slow, 8 
Recitation, division of, 98 
Relations, of words, 125 

sentences, 21 
Rising inflection, 28 
Room, divided for supplement- 
ary reading, 104 
Roosevelt, " Importance of 
Teaching and Value of Right 
Ideals," 169 
Rate of utterance, 4 
Review and suggestion, articu- 
lation, 165 

classification of material, 

121 
divisions of recitation, and 
assignment of lesson, 
106 
effects, 73 
force, 39 
grouping, 18 
melody, 33 

obstacles to good expres- 
sion, 130 
primary reading, 96 
quality, 47 
time, 12 
types, 61 

use of dictionary, 149 
Rules and grouping, 15 
Schools of teaching reading, 3 
Scott, quoted, 58 

"Sir Lochinvar," 184 
Script, transition to print, 87 



Selections for practice, 167 

didactic and moral, 169 

dramatic, 184 

humorous, 217 

narrative and descriptive, 
196 

oratorical, 179 
Selection of lesson, 99 
Sentence, inflection at end of, 
29 

in primary reading, 83 

method, 79 

relations, 21 

structure, 14 
Shakespeare, quoted, 7, 42, 43, 

58, 72 
Sight reading, 119 
Simile, 53 

Slow reading, too, 8 
Slow time, examples of, 4, 6, 7 
" Southern Soldier," Grady, 181 
Speaker, motive of, 19, 29 
" Speech, John Adams'," 7 
Stories, writing, 117 
" Story of the Great Republic," 

quoted, 37 
Strength of emotion, 4 
Stress, 35 

final, 35 

function, 35 

median, 35 

radical, 35 
Structure of sentence, 14 
Substitution and expression, 22 
Succession of ideas, 29 
Suggestion in acting and de- 
claiming, 35 

in reading, 35 
Supplementary, readers, 119 

reading, time, 104 
Synecdoche, 56 



INDEX 



229 



Teacher, imitation of, 22 

mechanical, 13 
Teaching reading, schools of, 3 
Teaching thought groups, 14 
Temperament and time, 8 
Tennyson, "Lady of Shalott," 

196 
Tennyson, quoted, 30, 59 
Thought, and emotion, 8 
and grouping, 13 
in reading, importance of, 3 

units, 13 

units and punctuation, 14 
" Three Crows," dramatized, 93 
"Three Kittens," dramatized, 92 
Time, 3 

and nationality, 9 

and temperament, 8 

definition, 4 

determined by, 4 

examples of, 10 

in reading recitation, 98 

rapid, examples, 5, 6 

slow, examples, 4, 6, 7 
Tone, reading, 122 
Too slow reading, 8 
Training pupils to study, 112 
Transition, script to print, 87 
Types, 51 

definition, 51 

examples, 51 

outline, 61 

review and suggestion, 61 
Unfamiliarity with words, 9 



Unity of lesson, 23 
Units of thought, 13 

of thought and punctua- 
tion, 14 
Use of dictionary, 140 

outline, 148 

review and suggestion, 149 
Utterance, rapid, 5 
Victor Hugo, quoted, 44 
" Village Blacksmith," 16 

assignment, 103 
Vital things in reading, 3 
Vocabulary of children, 80 
Voice, movement, 19 
Webster, " Liberty and Union," 

182 
" Whitewashing the Fence," 

Mark Twain, 219 
Whittier, " Barbara Frietchie," 
184 

quoted, 15, 44, 72 
" Willy Boy," dramatized, 91 
Word method, 79 
Words, development of new, 100 

emotional, 101 

experiential, 101 

in groups, 13 

in primary reading, 81 

poetic, 102 

unfamiliarity with, 9 
Work, assigned, 102 

of teacher, 8 
Writing in primary reading, 84 
Wrong ideals, children, 123 



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